


With Your Love

by LunaNomea



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh!
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-12-12
Updated: 2015-03-02
Packaged: 2018-01-04 11:07:29
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 12
Words: 55,388
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1080297
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LunaNomea/pseuds/LunaNomea
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A young prince has been set to marry whoever wins a duel monster tournament. However, when his rival declares to duel for his hand in marriage in order to combine their countries and then wins, the young prince must try to get himself out of the engagement. But will he want to after seeing his rival for who he actually is? Only time will tell.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. They Ain't Even in the Game

**Author's Note:**

> OMG another story? Yes, I know. I probably shouldn't, but I can't help myself! And it's puppyshipping! Blah, my first one. I hope it's good. : )

Chapter 1: They Ain't Even in the Game

A blond man stood on the balcony of a royal palace, leaning against a marble pillar. His arms were crossed over an extravagant looking coat while his honey colored eyes held firm towards the picturesque sunset landscape. In two hours he'd be betrothed. Thankfully, not to a woman. Coming out to his parents at a younger age seemed to have been his advantage. For he'd be marrying a well suited man, even if he wasn't in love with him.

You see, Joey wasn't a typical prince who married the typical princess in an arranged marriage. Besides being homosexual, he decisively believed in true love. Call him silly or an imaginative fool – which had happened to him once or twice – but he just couldn't bring himself to be accepting of being forced to marry someone who he didn't know. And it was with that attitude that had him not wanting to know them or even partake in the means of deciding on a man.

There was only one man that he'd ever consider as taking a husband and that was his close friend Duke Devlin. He was the head of security's son and was next in line to protect the King. For now, he stuck close to Joey and during that time, Joey had fallen in love with him. He was handsome, too handsome for his own good. Long black hair – usually tied up in a ponytail over a red band – and bright emerald green eyes. He was every girl or boy's fantasy, and yet Duke was above relationships. He'd sworn them off after having his heart broken by a girl that they now recalled as "T-Bag." She was a princess to one of the neighboring countries and had taken to Duke as soon as she had seen him, and he in return had fallen for her. Joey had been devastated but had supported his friend anyways. This had been before he had come out to anyone. Tea, the girl, was caught with a stable boy one day by Duke when he had gone off to visit her for her birthday. It had been the hardest day for both Duke and Joey. Duke because he was distraught and Joey because he felt incredibly sorry for his best friend and crush.

But now, he'd never have the chance to tell Duke how he felt. And Duke would go on with his life being miserable and lonely. Rubbing at his nose, Joey glared at the silhouette of mountains that the lowering sun was behind. Why was life so cruel?

"Hey man, there's only three duels left. Don't you want to watch your future husband's win?"

With just the sound of Duke's voice, Joey's heart fluttered but then dropped to his feet with the realization that Duke was okay with him being married off in a contest. Joey huffed.

"Why would I? This is stupid," Joey spoke with disdain as Duke walked over to him. "Can't believe my parents decided this."

Duke sighed as they'd had this conversation before many times over. "You know why Joey. You're eighteen now, you're supposed to be married. That's the law."

"You're eighteen and you're not married. Why's it different for me?"

"Because I'm not the prince. Now come on, you're father sent me out here to drag you into the ball room."

Joey huffed again and turned away from Duke, out of his hand reach. "I'm not going in there, Duke."

Duke groaned with frustration. "Come on man, what am I supposed to tell your parents?"

"That I'm running away and they can kiss my ass."

Rolling his eyes, Duke moved closer to Joey and placed a hand on his shoulder. Joey tensed underneath it. "It's not going to be that bad. I've been watching the duels and these last contestants are pretty talented."

Joey shoved Duke off of him then, throwing a glare his way. "What's being great at Duel Monsters have to do with marriage? Hunh? Nothin'! That's what! It makes no sense Duke! I'm not doin' this! They can't make me!"

Duke took hold of his friend and wrapped his arms around him. Joey melted into the brunette's arms and nuzzled his face into his neck. Duke petted the blond's back. "I know Joey. But I promise, it'll turn out all right. I'll be with you no matter what. You'll always have me as a friend."

Joey relaxed at Duke's words as he hadn't even thought of that. Duke would still be there, as his friend even when he was married to a stranger. Somehow, being married didn't seem so terrible anymore.

"Duke! Joey!" A rather high pitched voice called from behind them, breaking the friends apart from their embrace to look at the tall man. It was Duke's father. "Another has demanded entrance to your tournament! You have to come see who it is!"

Duke and Joey looked at each other and then Joey gave in to let Duke walk him back into the ballroom where the duels were being held. Scowling with his arms crossed over his chest, he entered and felt the tension in the room before anything else. Honey colored eyes looked around the room, not understanding everyone's gawking.

"What?" he snapped and Duke grabbed Joey's arm, directing his attention with a finger pointed in front of them. Joey followed the finger to see a tall man with dark brown hair hanging gently in his eyes and wearing an even more extravagant coat than Joey.

Joey's mouth went slack and his blood ran cold. He knew that person. Being a child of royalty had him meeting other children of royalty as he grew up. And just like he knew Tea, he knew Seto Kaiba as well. They had hated each other from the beginning. Joey's country was an older one, with old fashioned rules and less money. But they made sure their public was well off and happy. The Kaiba's country was newer with more money than they knew what to do with. They were strict, but had all the modern technology with the promise that people would have the "dream life" if they lived in their country. And with money and riches, came conceitedness and the "we-are-more-holier-than-you-attitude".

Something that Joey despised. And Seto had it. He would be forever taunting and mocking how Joey was in an underclass and low rate prince. Joey loathed Seto. And from what Seto had shown in the past, Seto hated Joey. So that brought him to once question.

Why the hell was Seto Kaiba entering his "duel to marry" tournament?!

"I've come to ask your son for his hand in marriage and if I have to duel and win against every single person in the world in order to do that, I can assure you I will," Seto Kaiba declared to his parents who looked as shell shocked as anyone at their thrones.

Joey was visibly shaking with anger and confusion. "What the hell is that bastard think he's doin'?" Joey breathed through gritted teeth before making his way down through the crowds.

Duke tried to grab his friend back to speak reason, but didn't reach him in time. So he followed in pursuit to make sure he could come between Joey and Seto if things got ugly.

"Go to hell Kaiba!" Joey roared as took stand between Seto and his parents, glaring dark daggers at the tall brunette.

Seto was surprised to see Joey but wasn't surprised to see him defending himself. He'd known that it wasn't going to be easy to get this over with.

"Is that anyway to speak to your betrothed, Wheeler?" Seto asked him, his piercing blue eyes narrowing down at the angry blond.

"You're not in this tournament and you won't be! So you're not my anything. I can talk to you however I want! Now get the hell out of my country!" Joey retorted with closed fists and face red.

"Joey calm down," Duke tried to reason with his friend, reaching out to snag the blond' shoulder but was thrown off by Joey's step forwards.

"No I will not calm down! This asshole thinks he can just march in here and claim me as if I am a prize! It was bad enough to have to deal with a total stranger doing that but him?! No! It's not happening!"

"ENOUGH!" the King spoke over Joey's rant and had Joey silent but seething nonetheless at Kaiba who merely stared down at him with a stoic expression. "Now, as I am as surprised as anyone that Prince Kaiba is here and is asking of such things, there is a tournament going on that despite my son's beliefs, is quite important. Now either duel like the rest of them Prince Kaiba or as my son stated, get the hell out of my country," King Wheeler announced icily.

Joey spun around in disbelief to look at his father, preparing to argue but saw the stern expression of the elder. There wasn't going to be any winning with him, Joey deflated furiously. Just like there hadn't been when the whole tournament idea had been brought up. Once again, his life was being played out for him and there was nothing he could do about it. He would just have to sit back and deal with it.

A small hand gently took Joey's arm and he about flinched but stopped as he saw who it was. His little sister. She was thirteen and barely up to his shoulder. Her innocent face looked up at him with stunning hazel eyes. "Big brother," she said quietly, trying to reason with him. "Everything works out the way it's supposed to."

Joey wanted to argue but was quickly beginning to realize that he had no control over his life. Silently, because he didn't trust his words right now around his sister, Joey let the small girl lead him over to his own throne in between his mother's and Serenity's. Leaning back in the chair, he stared ahead as Seto took his stance with his own fancy duel disk that his company had come out with recently and began dueling the last contestants.

Throughout them, he fought with himself. He'd never known Seto could duel before and by the gods, he was amazing at it. He had all the best strategies and Joey could barely keep control over himself when he'd use his most powerful monsters. He was practically on the edge of his seat by the end.

And then it came down to two. Seto Kaiba and a man that Joey didn't recognize. His fate on the line and in the hands of his enemy and a stranger, Joey was on the edge of his seat as the duel began. Serenity took Joey's hand to calm him, which helped only a little. He did appreciate Serenity's support but there was only so much he could get in this sort of situation.

And then the unthinkable happened.

Seto Kaiba summoned a monster that Joey had only heard about. The Blue Eyes White Dragon.

The enormous white dragon stood at attention in attack mode as Seto took his stance to declare his attack. "Blue Eyes! Use White Lightening!" the boy commanded and the dragon obeyed. Joey, his family, Duke, and everyone witnessing the tournament held their breath as the dragon opened its mouth to blow a blinding white light towards the last of his opponent's monster, wiping the rest of the other man's life points out.

Silence then overwhelmed the room after the display of power that Seto Kaiba held. The brunette only crossed his arms smugly with a smirk, as if knowing he was the most powerful. And then the room erupted into clapping that soon turned into cheering. Even Duke was amazed at Seto but his eyes lowered to Joey who was staring flatly at Seto with wide eyes and a half open mouth. The boy was frozen and it seemed like he wasn't sure how to react. And Duke felt his heart break for his friend.

Just then, Seto walked over to the thrones with a triumphant look on his arrogant face. "So shall I begin planning the wedding?"

The King who was still dazed by Seto's sheer power, sobered quickly and narrowed his hazel eyes that resembled his daughters. "I think we both have people to do that for us, wouldn't you agree Prince Kaiba? So you won the tournament and the right to marry my son. But now, tell me, what is your purpose of coming here tonight."

Seto glanced over at Joey for a second before crossing his arms over his chest to look at the King unwaveringly. "I am twenty years old, your majesty. I am in need of a husband myself and I thought, that perhaps by marrying we could combine our countries. What do you say?"

Everyone, including Joey, stiffened at the confession. "What about your father? Shouldn't he be here to announce this himself?" the King asked with suspicion.

Seto seemed to get even colder in his words and features. "My father… is dead. He passed two nights ago and left the throne to myself. I am now King of Pious."

Gasps were sounded throughout the ballroom and the King sat up straighter. "I'm sorry for your loss. But that gave you no right to include my country in your plans. Your father would have disapproved."

"My father didn't know what he was doing as King," Seto argued. "I have taken over to change and I will make it. And that change does include your country. Now that I have won your son, you will have no say about the relationship between our countries. Unless you're going back on your word?"

The King was silent for a moment and felt his wife's hand form around his. He looked at her for a moment, taking in her peaceful face that pleaded with him to see reason, before looking over her to his son who was staring at him with fear. He had no choice, he'd made this tournament to marry his son off and respecting the law in their country that had been set for many centuries. By going back on his word would make him look like an irresponsible king and he despised being looked at that way.

Holding back a sigh, he turned his attention back on the new king and admitted defeat. "Very well. You have my blessing and acceptance. However, gaining my son's will be another story," the king declared before standing and leading his wife and daughter away. "Come, let us celebrate in the dining hall!" he told the crowd.

As everyone stood and collectively exited the ballroom, Joey found himself staring at Kaiba through narrowed eyes. Seto then made his way over, however Duke interfered and stood between them like the protector he was.

"Get out of my way," Seto said, trying to remain polite.

Duke glared at the king. "You might have won the tournament but you haven't won Joey. Not by a long shot."

Seto's eyes narrowed at Duke's words, not appreciating them. "I don't care what you have to say, he's my betrothed and I will speak with him, whether you like it or not."

"I'm his security. I say who will speak with him or not. And I'm telling you to leave."

"Security?" Seto snorted in derision, making Duke get angrier and even more defensive. "I have a security team twice the size of you."

Just as Duke was about to retort on how much of an ass Seto was, Joey placed his hand on Duke's shoulder to silence him and moved to his side. His eyes glared up at Seto and the brunette's smirk quickly returned.

"I don't have anything to say to you, so I'd appreciate it if you'd stop harassing my friend and leave now. I don't care if you're a king or not."

Seto's smirk grew wider. "Well I have something to say to you. I expect you at my palace on Tuesday to begin planning with me our marriage. It's going to be an oversized ordeal and I need your assistance to make it perfect. There will also be a press release as the new King has won a tournament to marry a prince from another country. You must be there to make an appearance in your new home."

Joey reddened in the face, his rage back. "Home?! I'm not living there! If we do have to get married, what if I would prefer you to live here? Hunh? What makes you the sole person to make the decisions?"

Seto quirked an eyebrow up at the blond. "Because I'm the new King of Pious. I have to live there. Plus, you're my prize and so therefore you will be living wherever I say. And besides, why would I want to live in a dump country such as this one?"

Even though Duke wanted nothing better than to jump Kaiba for saying such harsh things about his country, he snatched Joey back before he could. The blond didn't have as much self-control as he did when he got angry.

"Don't you dare say such things about my country ya bastard! Don't you dare!"

Seto merely stared back at the blond who was squirming in Duke's arms, kicking and swatting as he tried to get at the brunette. "Whatever. I'm leaving. But remember, you better be there on Tuesday."

"And what if I'm not?" Joey spat back at Seto, still trying to get Duke to release him.

Seto smirked. "Then I'll just have to come get you myself." And then he spun on his heel and walked swiftly out of the ball room.

Joey finally calmed down a little after Seto had left and Duke let him go. "The hell you will," Joey grumbled and Duke looked over at him with a remorseful look.

"I'm sorry about all that Joey."

Joey glanced at Duke and then sighed, shoulders slumping. "It's not your fault so don't apologize. It's that asshole's fault. He made this whole situation worse! And for what? To combine our countries together! For his own gain! The nerve of that jerk!"

Duke ran a hand through his hair. "I know, it's fucked up. But there's nothing you or anyone else can do about it. Who knows, maybe it'll turn out okay."

Joey gave him a look that clearly stated he didn't believe him and Duke's mouth curved upwards. "Well at least you'll get to annoy him for the rest of your days."

Joey then brightened up, looking over at Duke with a grin, making the brunette frown with confusion. "What?"

"That's it! I'll just make him hate me! Well, more than now. I'll make it so he can't stand me and then he'll have no choice but to not marry me! It's brilliant!" Joey exclaimed, his eyes sparkling with devious excitement.

Duke stared at his friend for a moment before busting into laughter. "Hey, you know what man? That might just work!"

"Of course it will! Just watch!" Joey said happily, before grabbing Duke's hand. "Let's go celebrate by eating ourselves into a coma!"

Joey was positive that this would work. It had to. Dealing with Seto in the past had Joey knowing that he had a thin patience line and Joey was the best at making him cross it. If he could perform all the acts that had made Seto hate him in the past, perhaps he'd drop the engagement and leave him and the country alone.


	2. No Playa Boy Can Win My Love

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Arriving at Kaiba's palace, Joey must learn to live with his rival and forgo his sabotage plans.

Chapter 2: No Playa Boy Can Win My Love

Joey walked through the large marble doors, staring in awe at the delicate architecture that was the palace of Pious. It was nothing like Ghaffar, his home town. This place truly screamed of wealth and powerful people. Wrinkling his nose up at that thought, Joey proceeded to be escorted by an older looking man, who had introduced himself as Rolland, through an immaculate parlor room and into a great sized sitting room. Perhaps he shouldn't have left his guards outside. He didn't feel comfortable with the thought of being alone there with Seto. Duke had even stayed behind, despite the brunette's wishes. Although Joey wanted his friend with him during this tough time, he knew that he had to do this on his own. So he had taken other guards with him. He just hoped that Seto wouldn't be too difficult to deal with. Oh who was he kidding? Of course he would be.

The brunette in question was sitting in a fancy looking chair and reading a book, square glasses perched on the edge of his nose. Joey stared at him before quirking an eyebrow upwards at this. Seto wore glasses?

"Well, I'm here," Joey announced loudly with annoyance high in his voice. "You gonna make me clean your floors or lick your boots? Because if you demand I do either of those things you'll be looking for a new fiancé in a matter of seconds."

Seto had looked up at Joey during the blond's ramble. He had been surprised to see Joey even there in the first place, as he had been thinking he'd have to go and get him himself. Closing the book, he sat it aside and took his glasses off to place in an inner pocket of his coat.

"You came here willingly, I see. I must ask you though Wheeler, did you really miss me that badly?" Seto asked him with a small smirk, knowing the reaction he would be getting from the blond. This marriage was going to be an amusing one and extremely entertaining, he was positive about that.

As expected, Joey puffed up with anger like a furious cat and grew red in the face. "As if, ya bastard!"

Rolland opened his mouth to scold Joey of his foul language to his King, but Seto silenced him with a hand. "You may leave Rolland, I can take care of my fiancé."

Rolland seemed to look conflicted but unwillingly made himself leave the room. Seto then gestured for the chair next to him that was equally as fancy as the one he was sitting on. "Have a seat Wheeler."

Joey looked like he wanted to argue but seeing as he'd been on a horse for 5 hours, he didn't want to object to sitting down in a comfy looking chair. So he walked over and sat. And looked as grumpy as he could.

"Good boy," Seto couldn't help but praise and Joey practically growled back at him, widening Seto's smirk. "All right well, let's get down to business. My event planners will be here tomorrow afternoon and will immediately begin planning our wedding" – Joey growled at the word but Seto continued on as if he hadn't heard it – "Tonight however, we will be having a dinner so you can officially meet my younger brother. And I strongly suggest you watch your mouth around him. He's only eleven."

Joey looked over at Seto curiously at the mention of a brother. He hadn't known that Seto had siblings. "Younger brother?"

Seto rolled his eyes at Joey's senselessness. "Yes, younger brother. As in, a male child born to my parents a few years after I was."

Joey immediately scowled. "I know what a younger brother is ya jerk! I was just surprised you had one. You've never mentioned him before."

Seto leaned back in his chair, hands firmly gripping the arms. "Why should I when you are constantly barking at me every time I see you? I'm sorry, but I don't usually divulge personal information with people who are disruptive in my life."

Joey glared over at him. "I'm disruptive? Every time I have seen you, you're in my country! If anyone has been disruptive, it's you."

Seto sighed and pressed his fingers to the bridge of his nose, trying to keep his patience under control. He had anticipated Joey's stubborn annoying personality but this conversation wasn't going anywhere. Why was he surprised?

"Look, can we get back to topic? I am trying to talk with you."

"Well I don't want to talk to you."

"It's mutual, but I have no choice."

"Then why are you marrying me? Why not just end it while we're ahead."

"You know the answer to that, and besides, you sound too hopeful. I wouldn't be doing my job as your rival if I made sure all your fantasies came true."

"You're an asshole."

"You've told me that before."

"Well I'm telling you again, asshole."

"Are you done yet?"

"No."

"Well, be done. I have things to do."

"Like what?"

"King things."

"What kind of King things?"

"Things you'll learn when you're king. Now shut up."

"Don't tell me to shut up!"

"I'll do what I want. Rolland!" Seto suddenly called loudly, making Joey jump but smile wickedly as he had purposefully annoyed Seto - if the expression on his face was clear enough - and had succeeded. Plan #1 had been accomplished.

The elder man appeared back into the room, peering around to see if anything had broken while he had been gone.

"Please escort Prince Wheeler throughout the palace and show him to his room."

Joey stood up immediately and looked over at Seto in outrage. "I'm staying here?"

Seto beheld Joey with a strange expression. "Where else would you be staying?"

"Why can't I go back home?"

"Because it's a five hour ride back. That's ten hours you'd be on horseback daily and it's unnecessary. You're needed here for the rest of the week. The press needs their information by Friday."

"A week?!"

"Yes. Now go before I make you share a room with me."

"What?!"

Joey was then pulled from the room by Rolland and forced to go on a tour of the palace. In all honesty, the place was quite nice. It wasn't nearly as terrible as he had imagined it would be. The inside was even prettier than the outside too, so there was much to be seen. Joey had made note of the kitchen, making sure to vow to himself that he'd eat anything he wanted just to stuff it in Seto's face. And he was sincerely impressed with the gaming room. Perhaps he'd take refuge there to make his life less miserable.

By the time he was directed into his bedroom, Joey stopped in the hallway and stared at the light blue colored door next to his. "What does that go to? The bathroom?" he asked Rolland who seemed to be exhausted from showing an ever questioning Joey around the too large a place.

"It's King Seto's bedroom," he answered before opening Joey's bedroom door. Joey gave a curious glance at the door next to his once more before entering his own.

"Why do you call him King Seto? Shouldn't he be King Kaiba?" Joey questioned and Rolland sighed at the next question.

"King Kaiba was his father's name. They are completely different people and therefore shall be named for such alteration."

Joey thought over that for a few minutes before his eyes took in the room and lit up. The room was covered in red dressing and his heart sped up at the size of his own television. Of course, he had a wonderful television at his own palace, but this one beat it. It was practically a movie theater screen. Leave it Seto to make sure everything he had was better than Joey's.

The blond would have scowled at that, but instead flopped himself on the bed and grabbed the remote. "Awesome!" he cheered as the television turned on, giving him a clear high definition screen. It was almost as if he was actually in the television.

Rolland seemed to feel content to leave the blond in his room so he cleared his throat, gaining Joey's attention for a second. "I'll be down stairs. Shall you need anything, please call the number on your telephone next to the bed. You will be accommodated."

"Thanks Rolland," Joey said sincerely before turning back to the television. Perhaps it wouldn't be that bad staying here. He didn't have to deal with his father controlling his daily life, but instead had to deal with Seto running it. For some reason, a large television and eating all of Seto's food made up for that fact.

oO0Oo

Later that night, Joey was asleep and Rolland had been sent to retrieve him for dinner. Calling out his name hadn't worked so the elder man had resulted in shaking him. Joey had almost attacked him but they both were alive when they descended down the stairs and into the dining room. The room was even larger than the parlor and the table was long enough to seat a hundred guests. Joey wasn't surprised by this, his own dining room was about the same size. His family often had people at their palace and were more often than not among visitors than by themselves.

At the very end, sat Seto at the head of the table with a small cheerful looking boy next to him. Joey assumed this was his younger brother and decided to bring his plan down a notch in order to behave smartly in front of the boy. He wouldn't want some lunatic acting stupid in front of Serenity, so he could respect that. Even if it was Seto.

"Glad you could join us," Seto began, his provoking voice echoing throughout the empty room as Joey approached them, Rolland behind him. "What took you both so long?"

Joey sheepishly smiled as he sat down across from the little boy, who by the looks of it had long black hair and stormy grey eyes which seemed to sparkle as he looked back at Joey. Rolland decided to answer for him though and Joey was pleased.

"Prince Wheeler was asleep, I had to wake him by force," he stated as he attempted to cover up his annoyance. Seto's blue eyes left Rolland to look at Joey who was still smirking.

"Never mind," Seto dismissed. "Let the cooks know we are ready for dinner, Rolland."

Rolland bowed in response and left the room.

"Hi! I'm Mokuba!" the boy suddenly spoke up and Joey's smirk transformed into a friendly smile.

"Nice to meet you, Mokuba. I'm sure you know who I am," he said with a glance at Seto who straightened in his chair.

"I do! I can't believe you two are getting married! Seto's been so lonely for so long and this is just perfect! And our countries combining! It's going to be great" –

Seto cleared his throat at his brother and Mokuba looked over at him before calming himself down. Joey's eyes were wide from the ramble but didn't want to hurt the boy's feelings by the response he wanted to reply with.

"Yeah well, we'll see how it goes," Joey answered with a scratch to the back of his neck, watching Mokuba perk back up with a smiling nod and feeling Seto's eyes pierce him. He refused to lock eyes and so Joey was relieved that the cooks entered with their meal.

Joey was used to eating copiously at home, but for some reason it looked even better on Seto's pristine table. Perhaps it was because he hadn't eaten anything since breakfast that morning. "Oh yum," he mumbled happily and began digging in as soon as it was laid out completely before them.

The Kaiba brothers then witnessed a hungry Joey Wheeler. And it wasn't a pretty sight. Seto was disgusted and Mokuba was horrified by how much Joey could stuff into his mouth at once. He almost had lost his appetite when Joey had crammed mashed potatoes and chocolate pudding together on a spoon and swallowed it.

Finally, and gratefully so, dinner was officially over and they were all brought hot tea – with the exception of Mokuba who drank hot chocolate – and Joey laid back in his chair to pat his stomach contently.

"Oh man, that was awesome. Your chefs are incredible," Joey stated before holding back a burp.

Seto wrinkled his nose at his fiancé, wondering what he had gotten himself into. "Aren't you fed daily this way or do you have to cook yourself food like a commoner?"

Joey glared at Seto for the first time since that morning. "No! We have chefs. But I was just so hungry," he defended himself before gulping more tea.

Mokuba looked up from his hot chocolate with whipped cream on his nose – which Seto fondly wiped off with a napkin, making Mokuba blush. Joey watched Seto with his brother for a second, surprised to see the expression Seto had on his face when he dealt with Mokuba.

"I'm glad you are here Joey. It can get lonely sometimes," Mokuba said to the blond with a smile.

Joey felt a bit guilty that he was trying to sabotage the engagement when his little brother was so amped to have someone else around to hang out with even before he really got to know him. He didn't want to hurt Mokuba by the end of it. Maybe he should speed things up before the boy got too attached.

Quickly changing the subject, Joey straightened in his chair. "I saw you have a gaming room. It's okay if I play in it yeah?" He was already planning on how to destroy the room.

Seto opened his mouth to say "keep out" but Mokuba replied quickly and cheerfully. "YES! You can play with me! I have all the best games!"

Joey tried not to look disappointed that Mokuba was trying to find a way to bond with him. This was going to be harder than he thought. "Um, yeah sure."

Seto peered over his tea cup at Joey who seemed to be uncomfortable and he wondered why. However, he didn't comment. Anything he was thinking of to say would start a fight in front of his younger brother. He didn't want that.

Setting his cup down, Seto cleared his throat. "Mokuba, it's time for bed."

Mokuba deflated and groaned. "But Seto! I want to stay up and play games with Joey!"

Joey felt his heart tighten at that confession. Oh boy.

"No Mokuba. You have tutoring tomorrow morning. You need your rest."

Mokuba whined a little more, trying to get Seto to see his way but his older brother had dealt with this many times and wasn't budging. Joey was sure that if Serenity acted that way still, he'd of let her stay up. Seto was one tough cookie.

Resigning, Mokuba stood dramatically. "Fine. Goodnight big brother," he said with a small glare that left Seto unaffected before looking over at Joey with a small sad smile. "Goodnight Joey. We will play games tomorrow after I get done with school."

Joey wanted to make up an excuse to get out of it, but saw the look in Mokuba's eyes and fell victim to it. "Okay kid. Goodnight," he said with a smile.

Mokuba's eyes lit up at the agreement before bouncing out of the dining room. Joey hesitantly looked over at Seto, now that they were the only ones in the room. Should he take advantage of that fact or just go to bed himself? He'd had a long day himself and there was a whole morning to ruin their engagement that he need to rest up for. But who could deny being an adventurous. Joey sure couldn't.

"So…" Joey began, leaning his elbows on the table as Seto looked up at him. "About that planning tomorrow. Is it okay if I skip?"

Seto frowned with confusion. "And what do you have going on that you feel the need to skip the planning of our wedding?"

Joey shrugged. "Ya know, stuff."

Seto didn't believe Joey for a moment. What was he playing at? "Stuff…" Seto tried on for size. "Right. You are in a place you aren't familiar with and know nobody except for me, Mokuba, and Rolland. I highly doubt you have anything more important to do."

Joey then crossed his arms stubbornly. "I do too. Like getting the hell out of dodge."

Seto narrowed his eyes at the blond. "You're not leaving."

Joey glared back, his heart speeding up with the fact that Seto was playing right into his trap. "You can't make me stay."

Seto leaned forwards, brushing his cup out of his way as he tapered his gaze to the blond. "I can make you do a lot of things, Wheeler. Try me," he said dangerously in a low voice that should have made Joey shudder from intimidation. However, Joey was oblivious to it.

"You can't make me do anything, Kaiba," Joey taunted, using the king's last name. Which hit the desired effect as Seto glared even darker at the blond. Joey tried not to grin with triumph. "As a matter of fact, I'll be gone by morning. This engagement was a whole ploy to make you a better king, well ya know what Kaiba? I'm not going to be a pawn in your chess game," he stated before standing up to make his leave.

Suddenly, in a flash, Joey was pressed up against the wall behind him and he was staring up into penetrating blue orbs that were treacherously sparking silver from anger. Joey's breath was gone but he was mentally stable enough to know when he'd won this match. Just a little more and he'd be out of Seto's life completely.

Seto had other ideas. "You're not going anywhere Wheeler. You're staying in this palace and participating in planning our wedding. You will be marrying me. You have no choice in the matter. So get over yourself and deal with it."

Joey did shudder at his words this time, the effect of Seto's voice having the desired effect. For some reason, getting out of this was going to be harder than he had once thought.


	3. It's a Wicked Game That You're Making Me Play

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kaiba and Joey discuss wedding plans.

Chapter 3: It's A Wicked Game That You're Making Me Play

The next morning, Joey awoke on his own time and was quite thankful for it. He'd had a hard time falling asleep in a new bed and the stress of knowing he had to deal with Seto's engagement to him was keeping his mind spinning in circles. Rubbing his head, he climbed out of bed and headed for the bathroom that was connected to his room. Taking a shower should help him feel better.

Afterwards, he decided that it didn't help him feel better at all. When he should have felt well rested, he actually didn't. Throwing a brush through his hair, appreciating the accommodating necessities that were in the bathroom, Joey then dressed and decided he'd better make an appearance.

However, when he tried the door handle, he found that it was locked. With a frown, Joey tried the handle again. And then tried to break through it by ramming his body into it. When neither of those worked, he became frustrated and knew exactly why his door was locked. Seto thought he was actually going to make a break for it. Paranoid bastard.

Turning for his phone on the nightstand to call Rolland, he was surprised to hear his door unlock and open – revealing Rolland in the doorway. "Prince Wheeler. Good to see you're awake," he stated, clearly relieved that he didn't have to wake him up again. "Your appearance is needed down in the sitting room. The planners have arrived."

Joey practically growled in irritation as he pushed past Rolland and stomped all the way down the stairs. Planners. Well, they'd plan all right. Seto's funeral. Haha, that'd be great, he thought with wicked amusement. Straightening himself up before entering the sitting room, and hearing Rolland's footsteps close behind him, Joey saw Seto speaking with the planners conversationally.

"No need to worry, Prince Wheeler has arrived!" he said with a wide forced grin, throwing himself in between Seto and the planner he had been speaking with.

Seto glared down at Joey as he had been cut off in mid sentence, but appreciating that the blond had decided to show up after all. He'd of thought after last night that he'd have to be brought down kicking and screaming. "We weren't worried," Seto retorted before turning his attention back to the planner, now having to look around the blond in order to see the woman's face. "As I was saying, light blue is a very happy color and" –

"Light blue?! Is that what my dear fiancé has told you? I always say red is the best, if you pardon my terrible rhyming," Joey cut in to the planner, giving her a wink which she reddened at with wide brown eyes. "Red and black, I say."

All of the planners in the room stopped fussing over photos and clipboards in order to listen in to the new change of colors. Seto behind Joey silently fumed. The planner in front of them seemed to be conflicted now and she was having a hard time knowing if she should write any of this down or not. She was after all Seto's planner, not Joey's, but as it was their wedding she'd have to listen to both.

"The colors red and black are not appropriate for a wedding," Seto finally spoke up, glaring at the blond's head. "Light blue and white are much more graceful and bright. Everyone who will be there will agree."

"Light blue and white are too common in weddings!" Joey argued with a laugh, still keeping his charade of being too happy about everything. "Why not try something different and off the wall, like the actual couple who's getting married?"

"Because red and black are for funerals," Seto replied flatly with narrowed eyes as Joey looked back at him.

"Exactly," Joey answered darkly and locked eyes with the brunette.

Seto felt his anger with Joey rise and Joey felt proud. He was getting the exact reaction he had wanted. The planner beside them was staring at them through wide, confused eyes.

"Uh, your majesty? What colors are we going to stick with?" she asked timidly.

"Light Blue."

"Black," Joey spoke at the same time Seto did, confusing the planner even more.

Seto held back his temper, but grabbed the scruff of Joey's neck to pull him to his feet. "Excuse me, I must speak to my fiancé in private in order to settle this matter," Seto spoke to her politely, before pulling Joey by the hand out of the sitting room.

Joey's smug smile was caught as Seto turned around to glare at the blond. "What are you doing Wheeler?"

"Helping you plan our wedding," Joey answered like a "did-I-do-good" kind of way.

"You're trying to sabotage it," Seto retorted, making Joey narrow his eyes and lose his fake happy demeanor. Okay, so he'd caught on quicker than he'd thought. But he wasn't going to admit defeat. That wasn't how Joey normally worked.

"I'm trying to put my two sense in. Isn't that what you wanted?"

"I wanted you to help me like a well-rounded adult, but I see that I was mistaken to think you were even capable of that," Seto snapped, glowering at the blond. "Why don't you just let me make the plans if you don't want to have anything to do with it?"

"Because it's my wedding too, as you have so humbly pointed out," Joey countered.

Seto crossed his arms over his chest and Joey mirrored him. They were getting nowhere, as usual.

"Fine. Let's compromise," Seto sighed, knowing he'd have to let Joey have some say in their wedding at some point. "Light blue and red."

"White and black."

Seto gritted his teeth. "Red and white."

"Light blue and black."

"Why do you want black in it so bad?"

"Because to me, it is my funeral. It's the day I have to give up my way of life and live here with you in this stupid palace without my friends and family. It's the end of Joey Wheeler," Joey answered honestly before disappearing back into the sitting room.

Seto stared for a few moments at where Joey had been standing, thinking over the blond's words. He couldn't be angry at Joey for that confession. It was completely true. Sighing again, Seto reentered the sitting room and sat beside Joey who was silently waiting for him to return with his arms crossed over his chest pouting.

"We've decided on light blue and black," Seto told the planner and the lady nodded with relief that they'd come up with an answer, no matter how odd it was. She scribbled it down as the other planners around them began fussing over the changes. Looking away from them all, he felt Joey's honey colored eyes on him and tried not to feel too uncomfortable.

Joey on the other hand was perplexed with Seto's announcement.

oO0Oo

After the meeting with the planners, Joey had locked himself up inside of his room while Seto went the opposite way to deal with his "king things". Watching television had become boring two hours into it and Joey was laying on his back staring at the ceiling with the sounds from the show that was on in the background. He still couldn't believe that Seto had agreed to use black in their wedding, which is to say they still had one. Joey still wasn't giving up on trying to break off their engagement. But it was as if Seto had been trying to compensate for Joey's situation. Which didn't make a lick of sense considering the fact that it was Seto personally who had put him in it.

Glaring up at the ceiling, he cursed Seto for being so confusing. He hated the snobby bastard. Why couldn't they just leave it at that?

A knock on his door had him sitting up and for some reason, he was expecting Seto to come in. Perhaps it was because Seto's room was next to his and he'd been thinking about him. Ew, he'd been thinking about Seto.

"Come in," Joey finally called out and saw Mokuba open the door with a bright smile.

"Hi!" he said happily, walking over. "I thought we could go play some games."

Joey had completely forgotten about his agreement to playing games with the boy after he got done with his schooling. Damn. Well, it beat sitting up there alone thinking about the man he hated. "Sure kid," Joey said with a responding smile and followed Mokuba down into the large gaming room he'd seen the day before during the tour.

It was nearing dinner by the time Joey and Mokuba unglued themselves from the game systems. Joey couldn't believe how amazing it felt to play video games. It'd been a couple years actually. Duke and Joey had played their last game together right before Joey had to take on more responsible prince duties. It was nice to relax and zone out in fighting games. Mokuba was even a great partner and opponent. Truly had Joey running for his money.

"That was fun!" Mokuba said bouncing from his comfy spot on the sofa.

"Sure was! Wanna play another round?" Joey said enthusiastically, completely missing his plan that he'd been supposed to do when he got here.

"You bet!"

A clearing of throat stopped them from throwing their headgear on and they both looked towards the doorway where Rolland was standing, looking uncomfortable. "Your majesty awaits you in the dining room for dinner."

Both of the boys groaned and threw themselves back against the sofa they were sitting on. Oh great, I have to deal with moneybags, Joey thought sordidly before forcing himself up and following Rolland to the dining room. Mokuba was hot on his heels.

As soon as they entered the dining room, Mokuba began listing off all the exciting games they'd played to his older brother who listened halfheartedly. Joey caught his gaze before tearing his eyes away to sit down awkwardly on the other side. The tension was thick and Joey was wondering if it'd be okay if he could eat in his room. He was positive it wouldn't matter to Seto if he ate with them or not.

He was about to suggest it, but was cut off by the chefs bringing in their food. Just like the night before, it was extravagant. Joey had eaten breakfast and lunch lavishly, but dinner seemed to be the more so of the meals. Unfortunately, Joey didn't feel like eating and unwittingly made a show of it by pushing around his food with his fork.

Seto noticed immediately and wondered what was wrong with the blond. Did it have to do with the planning that morning? He wasn't sure, but he didn't want to ask just in case. So he decided to continue conversation with Mokuba who had seemed to have a wonderful afternoon with Joey.

Throwing caution to the wind after a long bout of silence in the room – mostly because Mokuba had finally began stuffing his mouth with food – Seto acknowledged the still moping blond. "Is there something wrong with the food?"

Joey blinked and looked up at Seto with confusion before realizing what he meant. "Uh, no. I'm just not hungry."

Seto snorted. "You're never not hungry, from the little time I've seen you around food."

Joey narrowed his eyes at Seto instead of snapping back like he usually did and looked back down at his food to take a bite. Seto stared at him. Something was seriously wrong and he wanted to know what. But he decided to let it slide for now, since Mokuba was still present. He hated when his little brother was brought into drama that didn't concern him.

After an awkward tea – hot chocolate – drink, Mokuba was sent to bed with a promise to play with Joey again the next day. The blond agreed to it automatically with a smile but then lost it as the boy left and Joey was again alone with Seto. After a few minutes of silence, Joey decided enough was enough. He stood up, the chair he was seated in squeaking against the hard wood floor underneath.

"Sit down Wheeler," Seto commanded and Joey looked over at him startled. He reluctantly sat back down in his chair. "Now what the hell's the matter with you? You've barely touched your dinner and the only time you've spoken is to speak with Mokuba. Did I do something that has offended you?"

There were many answers to that question that Joey's mind suddenly came up with, but he decided to save his breath this time. "Nope. Just not hungry," he replied instead.

Seto eyed him for a moment, not believing him. "So it has nothing to do with the planners meeting earlier?"

Joey tensed up and Seto knew that it had everything to do with the meeting. And he knew exactly which part. The blond frowned down at his cup of tea as his mouth opened to speak, but nothing came out. Was he struggling to voice his opinions? Since when?

"You chose black as one of our wedding colors. Why?" Joey asked in a quiet unsure voice and Seto felt awkward with the sudden change in atmosphere.

"Because you wouldn't stop arguing with me unless I did," he defended with a cross of his arms. Of course that wasn't the complete reason but Joey didn't need to know that.

Finally, a spark of the real Joey flamed up in front of him and the blond glared up at Seto. "So you really are an asshole."

Seto glared, but felt relief flood through him at the change of subject and the fact that Joey was acting like himself again. "So I've been told," he stated flatly. "Whatever Wheeler."

Joey grew angry, at himself and at Seto. Mainly because he had let himself think that maybe deep down Seto was human after all and had wanted to make it a little better for Joey to have to deal with it all. It had even made him reconsider his sabotage plans. Now he realized he had just been a fool.

"I'm going to bed," Joey concluded, standing up again to leave for good this time. However, Seto's voice made him pause at the doorway.

"Make sure to rest up tonight Wheeler. We're going on a date tomorrow."

Joey's hands on the door frame tightened and his knuckles turned white. "Date?"

"Yes a date Wheeler. Surely you know what that is."

Joey spun around to glare darkly at Seto who was staring at him indifferently. "Yes I know what it is! But why do we have to go on one? Haven't we skipped that part of a relationship already?"

"Press reasons only. Trust me, I don't want to go on a date with you just as much as you don't."

Joey snorted. "Whatever." And then proceeded to successfully leave the dining room to retreat into his bedroom for the night. However as he made his way up the large stairwell, his despising thoughts turned into a plan. This might be his only ticket out of this mess.


	4. I Don't Want to Like It

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kaiba and Joey go on a date.

Chapter 4: I Don't Want to Like it

When Joey woke up the next morning, he realized that he hadn't officially wondered the house on his own. The palace was huge, surely there was secrets in it that Seto didn't want him to find. After eating breakfast and showering, he walked the halls of the palace to attempt to take his mind off of what lay ahead for him that night. However it didn't work. He absolutely hated the idea of having to go on a date with Seto and kiss up to him in front of a whole bunch of people. It was sickening to say the least. But just like with everything else in his life, he had no choice. Of course, that didn't mean he couldn't act out and piss Seto off. He had a few ideas of annoying the crap out of him during it. Honestly, he just had to do the most obnoxious things and that was surprisingly - to him - easy for him to do. Seto might be fighting against his attempts to ruin the engagement, but Joey had no intentions of giving up. Even if Seto found him out.

Which by this point, Joey would be surprised if he hadn't figured it out already.

Running his hand along the marble wall as he walked, probably leaving a finger smudged line, Joey came to a stop at the large door that mirrored the main entry door downstairs. Strange, why was there a huge marble door on the second floor. Too curious for his own good, the blond walked up to it before opening by the handle. It wouldn't budge.

"Wha..." he began to question before beating on the door to figure out its ways - even though it probably wouldn't help him any.

"What are you doing?"

Joey jumped at the voice and spun around to see Mokuba with his head tilted to the side, staring at the blond curiously. A blush rose on Joey's cheeks as he was caught and he moved away from the door with lightning speed as if he hadn't been doing anything. "Uh, nothin'. Just wondering the castle," he said innocently.

Mokuba glanced behind Joey to the door before settling his stormy grey eyes back on the blond.

"Were you trying to go in there?" he questioned. "Cause I don't think banging on it is the way to do it."

Joey became flustered, not knowing what to say to defend himself before deflating and admitting defeat to the kid. "Yes," he sighed with exasperation. "Where does it lead to?"

Mokuba's lips curved upwards as he moved past Joey to approach the door. Joey followed anxiously.

"It's one of the most treasured parts of the castle," the boy explained, before grabbing a chain from under his coat and pulling it out to reveal what looked to be a duel monsters card.

Joey gave it an odd look, but was about to compliment Mokuba on the necklace before he was cut off by the boy sliding the card in-between the cracks of the closed doors. A technological sound came from within and Joey rolled his eyes. Of course it worked that way. The doors slowly opened and a bright light hit Joey's eyes, disabling him from being able to look at what was inside. Squinting and throwing his hand up to use a shield, Joey saw Mokuba entering the room and his honey brown eyes widened two sizes. Hesitantly arriving into the room, Joey assessed that it was a giant greenhouse of

some kind that held so many different plants that Joey was having a hard time keeping them straight into his mind.

"Wow."

Mokuba chuckled at Joey's reaction and petted a leaf next to him fondly. "It's our secret garden. No one's allowed in here except for me and Seto."

"What about your father?" Joey couldn't help but ask in confusion, his fingers running along a rather beautiful blue flower.

Mokuba was silent for a second and the blond looked up at the pause, before he began explaining.

"No, he didn't like this place. His father created it and I think he had some sort of bad memories about it so he never came in. When Seto and I came around, we were allowed to go in if we wanted. So Seto made sure that it was a place for just us. If we were in a bad mood or something, we could always come here and feel better. I love it."

Joey mulled over Mokuba's words for a few minutes, trying to process them. Seto really loved his little brother and it was weird to think Seto could love anyone other than himself. Frowning to himself with this new revelation, Joey walked around the vast room to see all the different flowers. It smelled delicious in there and he practically felt like he never wanted to leave. He could understand Seto's and Mokuba's views on it. It really made you feel better.

"Your brother probably doesn't want me in here," Joey finally said and Mokuba came up to his side.

"Probably not, but what he doesn't know won't kill him. Plus, you're family now," the boy said with a bright grin that Joey would have admired if he didn't feel so guilty at Mokuba's words.

Suddenly feeling even more guilt ridden that he was in there, soaking up a "family" setting when he didn't even want to be a part of the setting to begin with, Joey decided to change

Mokuba's eyes lit up even farther at that. The boy was obsessed with games and Joey had to chuckle.

"Yes! Come on, let's go!" he grabbed a hold of the blond's hand and practically drug him down to the game room.

oO0Oo

Seto unbutton the cuffs of his coat as he walked down the hallway towards his bedroom, fully intending to strip down and get into his large porcelain bathtub to work out the tension in his muscles. He was stressing out with Joey there. He had originally thought that it would be productive, and he still thought that. But the fact of that matter was, he didn't want to be around Joey and his obnoxious behavior. It was difficult to keep his patience in check around the blond and he had a suspicion that Joey was trying his patience on purpose - as he was behaving more moronic than normal.

Taking a deep sigh, Seto ran a hand through his hair to signalize his stress, but paused mid step when he walked past the game room. Mokuba and Joey were intently staring at the television screen in front of them and both had headsets on. Seto knew that if he were to try to communicate to them, it would fall on deaf ears so he figured he'd take the advantage of the silence to study the scene in front of him.

His brother was clenching and unclenching his teeth, his eyes squinting with concentration as his hair tousled around his still quite round face from the headset being placed on his head clumsily. He must had been very excited to play the game they were playing, Seto mused with a small smile. It was rare that he had seen Mokuba so happy and it was times like these that he was appreciative over Joey being there. Having someone else around for Mokuba was relieving, since he had become even busier since becoming King.

He just wished the blond beside the boy would submit already. Seto's eyes strayed to Joey and he held back a snicker. The blond's hair was equally as messy as Mokuba's and his eyes were frowning at the television as his thumbs repeatedly hit the buttons in his controller. Seto could even see his little pink tongue creeping out between his lips, a sign of his own attentiveness to the game. Feeling a strange tingle at the sight of the boy, Seto frowned and finally pulled himself away from the room.

Honestly, Seto wasn't sure what to make of Joey. They constantly fought, got on each other's nerves on purpose, insulted each other, had even gotten into physical fights at times, and still... Seto had this weird feeling that wouldn't go away whenever he was around or even thought of the blond. He couldn't decipher it but he was sure that it wasn't good. He had a bad feeling about Joey. And whatever it was, Seto would find out and squash it just like he always did.

Seto didn't care if he had to keep Joey locked in his bedroom for the rest of his life, things would be going his way. Whether Joey's feelings got hurt or not.

oO0Oo

King Seto Kaiba stood in his parlor, growing impatient as the time went on. Glancing over at the clock hanging on one of the walls, he glared at it as if it was mocking him. He had made Rolland go up and retrieve Joey thirteen minutes ago. What the hell was taking them so long? Crossing his arms over his chest grumpily, he stared at the clock.

Finally, after five more minutes, Joey and Rolland descended down the stairwell. Seto looked upwards, an insult on his tongue but it quickly died down at the appearance of Joey. He was wearing a rather expensive looking coat that could only belong to a prince. It was white and red, tailored just for his body, with black pants with a red line running down the seam underneath. His hair was combed a little to show that he had attempted to make an effort. In all honesty, Seto had never seen him look better.

And it was that thought alone that made his grumpy mood return.

"Well, what the hell took you so long? Trying to dress up for me?" Seto jeered, making Joey glower at him in return.

"Don't be so full of yourself ya jerk. I just didn't want to go and Rolland made me," Joey admitted, crossing his arms over his chest stubbornly with a glare for Rolland as he glanced the butler's way.

"Whatever, let's just get this stupid date over with," Seto said, turning to leave as Joey and Rolland followed.

"What a wonderful way to start a first date with your fiancé," Joey commented sarcastically.

The car ride into town was silent from all three men. Joey took to looking out the window for the most part, enjoying the scenery of the new city. It was everything his country wasn't. It screamed of rich; with skyscrapers, metro trains, smoky factories, and a whole lot of people in ridiculous outfits of all sorts of colors. Joey respected it because he wasn't living there, but he knew if he was there for a too long of a period he'd hate it. He had always appreciated the landscapes in his own kingdom with its meadows, rivers, and forests. It was always both beautiful and peaceful.

Finally, Rolland stopped the car in front of one of the taller skyscrapers and Joey pressed his face up against the window to get a better look of it. Seto's scoff from the seat next to him had him retreating to give him a dirty look.

"We're here your majesty, your highness," Rolland said formally from the front seat and Joey was quick to grab for the door handle, wanting to get away from Seto as soon as possible. However, a slightly bigger hand clasped around his and he looked up at the boy who it belonged to.

"What are you doing?" Joey asked him through narrowed eyes and Seto blankly stared back at him.

"The press is all around us, we have to behave like we want this marriage. And I have to be a gentleman," Seto explained compulsorily before releasing Joey's hand wearily. "So be good."

Joey snorted and crossed his arms over his chest with a scowl. "You? A gentleman? Please."

Seto ignored the jab and finally exited the car when one of his guards opened the door for him. Joey huffed when he was alone in the car, wishing he'd never left his kingdom. This was all ridiculous. He didn't even get why Seto was caring so much about all of this. Oh right, he wanted to make change in his country. Whatever.

The door on his side rapidly opened to reveal Seto standing there with his hand outstretched down to the blond. Joey looked up at him through grumpy brown eyes but Seto's stern look in his own eyes had Joey transforming his face to a forcibly lighter mood as he took Seto's hand. Suddenly, Joey went blind as a million camera flashes went off. Voices that were trying to get his attention had him overwhelmed and he absently tightened his hold on Seto's hand as the brunette led him out of the car. Guards surrounded them and made it easier for them to enter the building which Joey was thankful for. If it wasn't for their guards, he wasn't sure they would have made it out alive.

"That was ridiculous!" Joey hissed as they made it into the building that looked oddly like a fancy hotel. Many of the workers were standing around staring at them with bright grins, apparently too happy to be servicing to the king and his new royal fiancé.

"Yes," Seto quietly agreed, bringing Joey's hand up to hold his bicep respectively and didn't see the blond's blush or eyes zero in on the gesture. "Don't worry, we have a semi-private table. However, it will be next to a window so they will be able to see everything. Thankfully, the glass is tinted so that we won't see them."

The guards led them into a large dining room where many tables were set around in a patterned manner that could only be described as a restaurant. There was an enormous fountain that held a statue of Seto's father in the middle of the room, and Joey had barely taken in the man's features before they were whisked to their table by the host of the restaurant.

Seto pulled the chair out for him, keeping a passive expression on his face and although Joey felt the need to redden at the gesture, he reminded himself this was all pretend. Seto was probably hating it as much as he was. Refraining from frowning, Joey settled into his cushioned chair and looked over at Seto as he sat across from him.

"Now what?" Joey murmured, glancing at the dark window to his right that although he couldn't visibly see, knew that the press was on the other side soaking it all up.

Seto gave him a small smirk that had Joey wanting to glare, but he avoided doing so. Thankfully, their waiter arrived at their table to take their drink order and handed over menus. Joey opened the large book and his eyes widened immensely at the size and text of the menu. How in the hell was he supposed to read all of this?

"Have a problem Wheeler?" Seto's voice carried over to him and Joey glanced up in annoyance.

"You did this on purpose didn't you? You had to make us go to the most outrageous restaurant in your whole city just to humiliate me. You are an asshole," Joey said quietly with a hint of anger in his voice.

Seto's smirk widened. "I didn't do it on purpose, but I can see that it paid off anyways by the blank look in your eyes."

Joey kicked at Seto's shin from the under the table and Seto's reaction was pleasing. He jumped a little, not expecting it and shifted in his seat with a glance towards the window in paranoia. "Can you control yourself?" Seto asked the blond stiffly.

Joey smirked this time and shrugged, ignoring Seto to pay attention to his menu again. After a few minutes of deep concentration and determination, he finally found something he could understand and that sounded appealing. The waiter returned to the table with their drinks and took their orders, with Seto rattling off some meal that Joey didn't catch.

When they were finally left alone to wait for their food to cook, Joey began to feel awkward. Seto noticed this, as Joey was too expressive for his own good. Straightening in his chair, he reached over the table and grabbed Joey's clenched fist. Golden eyes snapped up to his in surprise and it almost made the brunette take his hand back. He was sure the press was eating this up.

"You need to relax," Seto muttered, staring intently into Joey's eyes – most likely making it look like Seto was professing his love to the boy. Joey regarded Seto with wide confused eyes.

"I can't. Not with them staring at us," Joey admitted, his cheeks turning red from the attention.

"Ignore them. Pretend it's just us."

"That won't make me feel any better."

Seto bit back a groan of frustration at Joey's attitude and released the blond's hand to sit back in his chair. Joey visibly breathed a sigh of relief whenever he was free and placed both hands in his lap to avoid a situation like that again.

"Why can't you just do this? It's called acting," Seto stated, his arms crossing over his chest.

Joey's eyes lit up with irritation. "Because it's stupid. Why does everyone have to see us being romantic? We don't even like each other."

Seto observed the angry blond. "They don't know that."

"Well they should," Joey blurted, his fingertips pressing into his palms creating half-moon shaped punctures in his skin. "How can anyone like someone who won them in a tournament? It's like I'm a pig that was auctioned off."

Seto didn't comment, not knowing how to answer him in all honesty. For some reason, Joey's attitude about their engagement was bothering him but it shouldn't. For one, it was expected. The blond had every right to feel the way he did. Seto would feel the same way, if not more livid. And two, Joey wasn't cooperating. Seto was trying his hardest to get along with him, for the sake of his country and it was becoming difficult to do so. Half of him wanted to just let him go and call off the engagement, to maybe try to talk sense to King Wheeler in order to combine their countries in a different way. The other half – the stubborn half and the half that was used to getting his way – wanted to see this through. Joey would have to deal with it and Seto was sure the blond would get over it one day. They might not love each other, but not all marriages consisted of it. They could at least respect each other to the best of their ability and help each other grow.

"What are you staring at?" Joey's voice abruptly brought him back to the present and he fended off a blush at realizing that he'd been intently staring at the blond.

"Nothing of interest," was Seto's immediate response and it had Joey narrowing his eyes angrily before letting it go.

"Mokuba showed me something today..." he decided to announce and Seto's eyes traveled back up to the blond's face with interest.

"And what did my little brother show you?"

"Your secret garden," Joey said with a small smile, hoping that it would cause discomfort for the brunette in front of him.

Seto froze at the words, staring blankly ahead at Joey as he tried to process them. He trusted his little brother, although he was disappointed that their place had been shared. Finally, he caught up with his own voice, "I suppose you were to be shown that sooner or later," Seto said simply before ignoring the boy in front of him, in order to hide his misfortune.

Joey glared at the brunette. It hadn't worked. Hmph!

When their food arrived, Joey was relieved to find his meal looking edible. It even smelled appetizing. Seto formally took his appropriate utensils and began eating while Joey began stuffing his face like he'd never eaten before. Trying his best not to feel embarrassed or angry at the boy across from him, Seto ignored him all together.

Joey glanced up at Seto with a mouthful of food, wondering if his disgusting talent of eating too much at once was working. Suddenly getting a great idea, Joey smirked around his food before swallowing it and grabbing a spoonful off his plate to outstretch it towards the brunette. Seto's blue eyes looked up at the spoon before following the arm to lock onto Joey's brown orbs.

"What are you" –

"Feeding you. Ya know, like the press wants," Joey said with an extensive grin. Seto gritted his teeth, not appreciating the mocking from the blond.

"I'm not letting you feed me," Seto declared quickly, before going back to his meal. Joey wiggled the spoon in his face though, making the brunette irritated and he recoiled away from it. "Feed yourself, Wheeler."

"No. Come on, they'll love it. How come every time I try to cooperate I get told no, but when I don't cooperate I get yelled at?" Joey asked him with a wicked gleam in his eyes. Seto observed him for a minute, watching the spoon full of weird food still wiggling in front of him. He wasn't going to stop unless he did, was he?

Seto growled under his breath before leaning in towards the spoon, practically hearing the swooning from outside the window, and slowly opened his mouth. Joey's eyes darkened and he shoved the spoon harshly in the brunette's mouth before he could change his mind. Seto's eyes widened at the blond and tried not to choke. Joey's smug smile was getting on his last nerve.

"See? Not so bad!" Joey said happily, before downing his drink in one gulp. When Seto had thought it was bad, it suddenly turned worse as Joey let out large belch that had practically everyone looking at him with disgust and shock.

Joey grinned toothily at them though, making Seto clench his fists under the table. "Oops! 'Scuse me!" the blond chuckled at himself before packing himself full with the rest of his dinner.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Seto seethed, his eyes narrowing into slits at the blond while not even caring that the press could see them anymore.

"It's a compliment to the chef," Joey said while shrugging, but around a mouthful of food so it came out sounding like "ish a complimensh to da shef."

"You're acting like a feral animal."

"Hey! That's not very nice."

Seto glowered at the blond, realizing that this was enough for one night. "Neither is this," he said through clenched teeth as he stood and grabbed Joey by the hand, forcing him to his feet. "We're leaving."

"What? Why?" Joey feigned innocence, smirking over Seto's turned shoulder as he was forced out of the restaurant with everyone staring at them.

"You're an idiot, that's why," Seto responded icily while pulling the blond out of the restaurant. "You're behaving like you want to ruin this for me. Is that your intention?"

Joey's eyebrows rose and he grinned. "Maybe," he answered noncommittally.

Seto spun around as the flashes of cameras on the street closed in on them, staring into Joey's eyes to read their expression. Too angry to think things through, adrenaline rushing from the press, and the revenge seeking part of him taking over, Seto grabbed Joey by the collar of his coat and pulled him harshly against him to press his lips hard onto Joey's.

Gasps and cheers were drowned out as Joey's eyes flew open and Seto's drew close.

oO0Oo

The woman's body was shaking uncontrollably as she sat on the edge of her couch and stared at the elaborate television screen, her fists clenched and pressed closed to her body. This couldn't be happening. She'd heard rumors all week but hadn't taken them as seriously as she should have. The last time she had seen Prince Seto had been at his family's Christmas party the year before and he had definitely been heterosexual, showing no signs of homosexuality. It just didn't add up and she was furiously confused.

As the kiss broke between the two males, Kisara stood up abruptly and kicked over her coffee table in front of her in blind fury. "No! This can't be happening!" she repeated aloud this time, quite loudly. Two of her guards came running into the room, expecting to protect the princess. She spun around, her icy blue eyes freezing her men in place.

"Get my car ready, we're leaving for Pious tonight."


	5. I Ain't Even Here, I'm In Outer Space

Chapter 5: I Ain't Even Here, I'm In Outer Space

Joey had jumped out of the car as soon as it had come to a stop, before storming his way into the palace. The nerve of that self-righteous king had to kiss him in front of everyone! It was appalling and it royally had pissed the young prince off. Plus! Seto had ignored him the whole car ride as if nothing had happened. The bastard.

As soon as he stepped foot onto the stairs, he saw Mokuba appear from the sitting room with a large smile. "How'd it go?!" he asked cheerfully, which then gained a dark glare from the blond before he ran up the stairwell towards his bedroom – leaving a stunned Mokuba staring after him with confusion.

Slamming the door to his bedroom closed, Joey threw himself onto his bed and punched the pillow next to him. "That asshole! That stupid, arrogant bastard! In front of everyone?! He gave me my first kiss in front of everyone?!" he continued to mutter incoherently as he slammed his fists into the vulnerable pillow.

After his angry energy subdued, Joey collapsed onto the bed, throwing the thoroughly punched pillow onto his face. Still feeling like he wanted to scream, he felt tears threaten to pool around his eyelids. He was embarrassed and humiliated, which he was positive was the intention of the brunette. Everyone, including his family and friends back home had seen that kiss. And it hurt Joey.

"What da fucks the matter with 'em?" Joey asked into the pillow, trying to understand why Seto would be so cruel.

"With me?" a voice spoke from the room that was all too familiar and Joey's heart froze involuntarily, before he sat up quickly and instinctually threw the pillow at the king's head.

Seto easily dodged it, stepping to the side before closing the bedroom door to give them privacy. Joey's angry thoughts led him to think that it was a good decision, that way no one would be able to interfere when he killed the king.

"Get out of my room!" Joey snapped, ready to throw fists.

Seto stoical face hid all emotions and instead of leaving, crossed his arms over his chest and stared straight at the blond patiently. "We need to talk," he responded in a dark voice that hinted to Joey that they were about to have a conversation similar to the one they had in the dining room the first night he was there. For that one though, Joey had been pressed up against a wall.

"We have nothing to talk about," Joey retorted stubbornly, throwing daggers with his eyes towards the brunette, which Seto ignored.

"On the contrary, Wheeler. You think it's funny to humiliate me in front of millions of people in order to get out of a situation that you were going to be in no matter what the consequences?"

Joey's glower darkened at the brunette's words. "So what if I was supposed to marry someone anyways, at least they were marrying me because of me – Not because they wanted their country to expand!"

Seto rolled his eyes, as he was becoming sick of the pity party Joey was throwing his way every moment he got. At first it had slightly troubled the brunette, but now, it was getting old. "Deal with it, Wheeler. Sometimes life isn't what you expect. You're in this situation with me so get the fuck over it."

Joey hadn't heard Seto curse before, but instead of displaying his shock, he crossed his arms over his chest mulishly. "No I'm not going to 'get the fuck over it'!" Joey shouted back. "I have to marry your bastard ass."

"So instead of being a man about it and owning up to a decision that you made, you're trying to sabotage my reputation? Do you know how difficult it is to deal with you and your insufferable personality? You make me want to cut my head off, but I'm trying to endure you in order to fulfil what I'm trying to do" –

"A decision that I made?!" Joey roared, standing up from the bed with his mouth twisted into a snarl – his brown eyes sharpening with hatred. "That's where you're wrong! I had no say! My father made me agree to the tournament. He just wanted to marry me off! He doesn't care who I go to! Did you notice how easily he let you take me? He just wants me gone! He hates me! Always has! You have no idea what you're talking about! So fuckin' excuse me for wanting to get away from someone else who hates me!"

Seto was taken aback by Joey's sudden ferocity about his father. The blond's sentences were running together with so much rage that Seto couldn't even understand him anymore. It explained why Joey was so sensitive and defensive at every given moment. His father must control his life, making him feel worthless while they shower his younger sister with everything that they had. Seto understood to a degree how that felt, but would never familiarize with how Joey was feeling. Just because his father hated him, didn't mean that he had to show anger to everyone else.

"Calm down," Seto finally spoke, however the words were not taken to heart by the blond who seemed to be looking blue in the face.

"Don't you fuckin' tell me to calm down you bastard! You're just like him! Always thinkin' you're better than everyone else! Not caring who you mull over, as long as you're on top! Right? Right!"

By then, Seto knew that whatever he said was just infuriate Joey more and he didn't want to upset his younger brother who he knew was probably eavesdropping outside the door. Acting in impulse alone, Seto drew towards Joey and grabbed him by the shoulders – which in turn made the blond even snarlier, but Seto ignored him.

"Shut up, Wheeler. You're not breathing!" Seto yelled over the blond's mouth, however that seemed to make Joey's head click and he gulped for air suddenly before coughing and choking. Seto withdrew himself, so he wouldn't be hacked on. "God, you're such a moron," the brunette exhaled with exasperation.

Joey scowled up at Seto as he caught his breath, in order for him to speak coherently again. "Asshole," he still managed to choke out and Seto had been expecting it.

"I don't have time for your sob stories," Seto relented passively. "You need to understand that no matter what could have or did happen with your father, it no longer affects us now. You now belong to me and you will do as I say. So get over yourself, be a man, and stop trying to ruin this. If you don't care about my reputation, care about yours. I am already going to have to clean up after your random outbursts of repulsive behavior at the restaurant."

Seto ignored the growing scowl that was quickly returning to Joey's face with vengeance, and turned towards the door – ready to leave the bedroom as quick as possible. "And if you don't stop, Wheeler, you'll be answering to me personally. If you thought I hated you before, you won't know what hit you. You're not the only one with a father of steel."

At the mention of Seto's father, Joey's rigid appearance faltered and he stared after the brunette long after he had left the bedroom. He flet himself collapse onto the bed behind him and he stared at the empty hallway for a good long while, not knowing what to think or do after Seto's threats. Joey still felt the need to get out of the engagement, but he was beginning to realize it wasn't as easy as he had originally thought.

He needed advice. Advice by someone who knew him and knew his situation. Mokuba was too young and plus he'd be biased towards his brother. Rolland would be biased too and plus, Joey knew the elder man didn't exactly like him. He didn't have anyone there to talk to and he was feeling miserable. Running a hand through his hair, he sighed. He'd have to make it an extra four days before he could go home. If Seto let him go home, that is.

Suddenly, his phone rang next to him and he glanced over at it before answering.

" 'Ello?" he asked with no enthusiasm whatsoever.

"Prince Wheeler, please press the red glowing button on your phone receiver. A phone call awaits you," Rolland spoke formally over the phone, making Joey frown with confusion. Who'd be calling him?

"Uh, thanks?" Joey managed to get out before he heard Rolland hang up quickly. Rolling his eyes, he searched the receiver for the red button before pressing it. "This is Prince Wheeler," he said after a clear of his throat, in case it was someone important.

"Joey! Man, it is you!"

"Duke?" Joey asked with wide stunned eyes as his heart immediately began pumping into overdrive. Duke was calling him!

"Yeah man it's me," Duke chuckled. "Any luck on getting out of there?"

"Duke, listen to me. I need to get out of here now. Ole moneybags isn't letting me leave and I think I'm going to be forced to live here. Is there any way you can help me out?" Joey asked in a rush, throwing a glance over his shoulder at the door with paranoia.

"Live there? Holy shit! Yeah, buddy. I'll get you out of there. Should I inform your parents?"

"No!" Joey cut off immediately. "I don't need them involved in this until it's necessary. They have done enough, don't you think? They're the reason I'm in this mess."

Duke sighed. "I understand. Okay, I'll set something up. Sneak out at one in the morning. I'll bring a horse for you."

Joey exhaled with relief. "Thank you Duke. You have no idea what this means to me."

"No worries bud. I am just concerned with getting you home. I'll see you tonight."

"Okay. Bye," Joey said with a firm nod, before they hung up the phones. The blond laid back on his bed, staring up at the ceiling with a racing heart as he thought about his escape.

oO0Oo

Joey didn't sleep at all, but he pretended to in case anyone checked up on him. No one did, not that he really expected them to. His eyes were burning from staring at the clock next to him, watching anxiously as each minute ticked by. At one, his heart did a flip and he threw the covers off of him and collected his bag that he had refused to unload at all since coming there. Throwing caution to the wind, Joey exited his room with a glance at the closed blue door next to him before tiptoeing down the stairwell.

Joey thought himself lucky. No one had shown up to stop him and it seemed like the whole palace was asleep. Breathing a sigh of relief, Joey pulled the main door open and welcomed the fresh night air. Smelled like freedom. With one last glance behind him, Joey made a break for it while keeping a trained eye on his surroundings for Duke and the horses.

Finally, he saw them as Duke on a horse submerged from the shadows to wave at him, smiling. Joey couldn't help but grin in response. Oh how he had missed Duke! His gorgeous eyes, beautiful hair, and slender body. And just the sense of home when he was around him. He missed home.

Just as he was approaching them, a strong grip took hold of his arm and he swung backwards unexpectedly and landed into a hard chest. Spinning his head around, he locked eyes with icy steel blue.

The only thing that came to his mind was, "Oh shit," which fell from his lips automatically.

"You think?" Seto asked dangerously, his eyes narrowed into slits as he moved them from Joey's face towards Duke.

"I… I can explain!" Joey stuttered, not even stopping to wonder why he was intimidated by Seto's presence. Maybe subconsciously Joey knew that Seto could stop him from doing anything if we wanted. He just didn't want to believe it.

"No need. It's obvious what you were about to do," Seto snarled, tightening his hand around Joey's arm, sending pain down it. Joey winced and tried to pull free.

"Let go of me! I need to leave!" Joey retorted, regaining his willpower.

"You're not going anywhere," Seto spoke through gritted teeth, his eyes shining treacherously down at Joey's furious brown ones.

"You can't make me stay! I hate you and you hate me! This would never work and you know it!" Joey shouted while struggling even harder to wrench himself away, which made Seto strengthen his clutch.

"I told you before, Wheeler. I can do many things, including forcing you to stay. Especially if you think you can undermine my authority!"

"Let him go!" Duke's equally threatening voice rang through the area as he had apparently dismounted the horse to interfere.

"Stay out of this mongrel," Seto snapped at the guard. Joey took the distraction as a way out and he hooked his leg around Seto's in order to pull the taller man off of his feet. It worked as Seto stumbled and absently loosened his hold on the blond, letting Joey successfully pull free and make a run for the horses.

Seto roared irately and controlled his balance as he immediately ran after his fiancé who had effectively jumped on the horse and was untying the knot that Duke had to hold the horses together. Throwing Duke out of the way as he was attempting to get on his own horse, he made a grab for Joey but the blond kicked at him in the chest, sending Seto falling backwards onto his back.

"Stop Wheeler!" Seto bit out, getting to his feet with a fuming expression. His hair was tousled and his eyes were glowing silver. And he grabbed Joey's leg in order to stop him from kicking him again.

"Let go!" Joey yelled, wiggling his leg in order for him to let go as he continued to try to untie the knot. "Duke come on!" he shouted aimlessly at his guard who was about to grab Seto by the neck. Duke jumped onto his own horse just as Joey pulled the reigns free. Now to get Seto off of him.

Heart pounding in his ears, Joey grabbed Seto's arms and attempted to pry the long fingers off of his leg.

"Stop fighting me Joey!" Seto growled up at the blond and their eyes locked for a split second as Seto used his first name for what Joey thought was the first time ever. "Please."

Joey swallowed a weird emotion he couldn't place and tightened his grasp on the brunette to shove him off, just as a new voice was heard.

"Seto?"

The three boys stopped to look over towards the stone drive way to see a snow white haired girl with a pale complexion standing to the side with a look of horror on her beautiful face. Seto frowned with shock.

"Kisara?" he questioned into the night, but it had been a mistake on his part. Joey took the opportunity to shove the brunette off of him with all his strength, sending Seto back onto the ground with a groan.

Seto glowered up at Joey from the ground, only to see Joey and Duke riding away into the night. They had got away…

"Seto!" the female shouted with concern as she ran over to him to kneel at his side. "Seto, are you all right?" she asked before checking him over, her small hands running over his arms and face.

Seto was too angry at Joey and too stunned at the appearance of the woman beside him as he stared forwards where the blond had disappeared.

How could Joey do this to him?


	6. So I Went and Walked Away

Chapter 6: So I Went and Walked Away

Seto sat in his head chair of the dining room table the next morning for breakfast and not at all enjoying the uncomfortable atmosphere he found himself in. Mokuba was at his left as always and hadn't spoken a word to anyone since Seto had informed him of Joey's disappearance. The poor boy looked absolutely crestfallen and Seto wanted to wring Joey's neck for causing his brother to hurt. Didn't he realize how much he meant to the boy? Seto scowled down at his tea cup, watching the steam rise with no interest. Of course Joey didn't. He didn't think of anyone but himself. He was so busy throwing a fit over how unfair his life was to care what he was putting anyone else through.

And then there was the fact that Kisara was at his right, in Joey's chair – as Seto had seemed to think of it as. She too looked a bit upset, but Seto assumed it was because she wasn't being paid enough attention to. Her blue eyes kept wondering over to him with curiosity but she never said anything. It was starting to irritate him.

"Kisara," he finally said, breaking the awkward silence that had reigned on them for far too long in his opinion. The white haired girl looked up at him with wide crystal blue eyes with hope swimming in them. He wasn't sure what she was hoping for, but he was positive it had nothing to do with what he was about to ask. "You never told me why you were here. Let alone, showing up at one o'clock in the morning."

Mokuba's stormy grey eyes lifted to Kisara as well just as her cheeks pinked from apparent embarrassment.

"Oh, of course! I'm sure my appearance was quite odd," she giggled, sending the tinkling sound echoing throughout the empty dining room hall. Seto almost winced and he was sure Mokuba's frown deepened. Laughter was definitely out of place at that moment.

Kisara seemed to realize she wasn't being thought of as cute, while Seto continued to level his gaze at her with no emotion at all. Her smile faltered. "Well, I saw you and your fiancé on television and I wanted to wish you a happy marriage. I left my palace as soon as I could and just happened to get there at that time," she explained and with the mention of Joey, Seto's eyes slid downwards to his tea cup again. "If you don't mind me asking, though. Was the boy you were fighting with last night… was that him?"

Seto's shoulders stiffened and his eyes narrowed into a scowl. He didn't want to talk about Joey and he really didn't want Kisara there. Her appearance had been the distraction that Joey had needed to leave and a part of him was blaming her for the blond's departure.

With Seto's silence, Kisara took it as a yes. She studied his face for a moment, seeing the heavily guarded expression he was making. Reaching over, she placed her hand over his to comfort him. Seto's hand tensed underneath her touch and he locked eyes with her. "I'm sorry. For whatever happened between you too. You two seemed quite happy with each other."

Seto felt like that was enough and his anger with her along with his emotions towards Joey was piling on top of him. Pulling his hand out from underneath hers with a jerk, he glowered down at her. "You don't know anything about us," he stated firmly as he stood from the table and left without another word.

Mokuba turned in his seat to watch Seto leave before his eyes trained back to Kisara who looked stunned by his older brother's behavior. His grey eyes narrowed suspiciously. He had never trusted the girl. She was always hanging all over his brother whenever she was around and their father had always been doting over her and Seto from the get go. It made perfect sense to him as to why she had suddenly shown up. She had seen Seto happy with someone else and had gotten jealous.

"Why are you really here?" Mokuba couldn't help but ask and Kisara's blue eyes snapped to his.

"What on earth are you talking about Mokuba?" she asked in a sickeningly sweet voice that made Mokuba's toes curl.

The boy's eyes couldn't narrow any further. "You're here to make moves on Seto aren't you?"

Kisara feigned shock and placed her hand upon her chest for effect. "What? How could you say that Mokuba? I came here to meet Seto's fiancé and say congratulations. However, I have to say I am quite surprised by Seto's choice in gender."

Mokuba knew just by her innocent façade that he had hit it on the nose. Getting angry with the girl because he liked Joey a whole lot and was devastated over the fact that the blond was gone, he stood up and placed his hands on the table furiously. "You're lying! You don't care about Joey! You just want Seto! You always have! Well I'm not gonna let you! Joey and Seto are going to be together!"

Mokuba's outburst must have made Kisara's act fall because her pretty face twisted into a malicious glare as she stood too. Grabbing the boy by his collar and forcing him to look into her eyes, she spoke in a low threatening voice. "You don't know what you're talking about, little boy. Seto is not homosexual, trust me. And I'm going to make sure personally that it stays that way. So stay out of my way or Seto's going to become an only child, got it?"

Mokuba refused to let her win and he struggled to get out of her grasp. When she didn't let go until he said something, Mokuba growled that sounded a lot like his older brother's. "I'm not scared of you," he spat.

Kisara's eyes flashed silver. "You should be."

oO0Oo

Joey's eyes were half lidded and he was practically laying on the horse as they pulled up into the driveway of his family's palace. If he wasn't so tired he would have thought it was weird to be back home after spending a few days at a much fancier palace. As they came to a stop in front of the palace, he swayed and Duke was quick to jump off his horse to catch the blond.

Joey smiled drowsily and Duke gave him a half smile before they entered the palace. The familiar aroma of his childhood home filled his nostrils until he smelled bacon. As Duke was leading him towards the staircase, Joey suddenly turned in the direction of the dining room and promptly began walking for it. Duke chuckled low under his breath as he grabbed Joey's arm, forcing him to stop.

"Joey, you need sleep," Duke explained when Joey gave him a sleepy questioning look. "You can eat whenever you wake up. Plus, I don't think it's a good idea to just barge in there to your parents and all. I have a feeling they aren't going to be happy with you for leaving."

Joey sighed and nodded as his stomach gave a protesting rumble. Duke was right, but he wasn't going to be happy about it. In fact, he pouted all the way up to his bedroom. Duke followed inside, making sure Joey didn't pass out on the way to his bed. He didn't thankfully, but he did collapse heavily onto his bed instead without pulling down the covers or anything. Or laying in it properly.

Despite his own exhaustion, Duke helped Joey into his bed and made sure the blond's shoes were off and such. Joey happily let the brunette baby him, secretly enjoying his affection towards him. Whenever Duke was satisfied that Joey was going to be fine to sleep, he turned to leave but was caught by Joey's hand on his wrist.

"Stay," Joey mumbled, half asleep already.

Duke frowned, not thinking it was a good idea. He was a guard of the palace, it wasn't appropriate. Plus, Joey was technically still engaged to Seto Kaiba. Finding another man in Prince Wheeler's bed probably wouldn't sit well with King Seto. But, Joey's sleepy face was adorable and he felt bad for Joey's current situation. Joey had told him everything on the way home and he wished that he could make everything the way it was when they were children. It had been much simpler.

"Okay," Duke finally relented and pulled his shoes off before climbing into bed next to him. He closed his eyes and exhaled, and then felt Joey snuggle up to his chest. Opening one eye to glance down at the already sleeping face of Joey Wheeler – which in all honesty looked like: mouth open, hair tousled, and strange noises emanating from him – Duke couldn't help but smile and be glad that Joey was home.

If only they didn't have Seto Kaiba's wrath looming over them, as Duke was positive they would be seeing him soon.

oO0Oo

A soft knock on his bedroom door brought Seto out of his musings and thinking it was Mokuba, called out "Come in."

He should have known better, however, as Kisara opened the door and walked in. His eyes that had lifted to see her, narrowed and dropped back down to the floor. He heard her footsteps approach him before she sat down next to him on the edge of the bed.

"You need to leave," he bluntly stated without looking at her. He needed to devise a plan to get Joey back and he couldn't do that with her lingering around him.

"I can't leave, Seto. You're obviously upset. I just wanted to know if there was anything I could do for you," she said quietly, while putting emphasis on her words with a soft hand to his shoulder. "I'm here if you need to talk."

Seto shrugged her hand off of him and finally looked up at her through blank eyes. "I don't need to talk. There has been enough talk this past few days and I'm sick of trying to convince him. It has obviously not worked. There needs be action. And that's what I intend to do."

Despite the fact that he had said he didn't need to talk, just speaking those words aloud made him feel better and confident. Even if he was telling Kisara his plans and she probably was confused anyways.

Her blue eyes moved over his face for a moment before her hand attempted to caress his back for comfort. "What you need is to calm down and think about this rationally before you go off and do something reckless. It's obvious to me, an outsider, that Joey doesn't want to be here. If he did, he wouldn't have left the way he did. Have you ever thought that maybe forcing Joey to marry you was not a good idea?"

Seto's guilty conscious began to pick at him as Kisara spoke the words he didn't want to admit. Of course he had thought that. He had thought that from the beginning. They had gone from hating each other to being engaged over night. He would be ignorant to think that Joey would fall to his knees and do whatever Seto told him to do. Joey wasn't like that, hence why they hated each other. Seto was used to getting his way with people and they do his bidding. So it was of course frustrating when someone didn't.

But he was refusing to admit defeat. Perhaps if he wore Joey down a bit, he would succumb to him. He just needed to go over to Joey's kingdom, drag his ass back home, and teach him to never do it again. It would be as simple as that.

Kisara watched Seto and saw the confliction in his eyes, but the returning stubbornness that reappeared had her troubling over it. "Seto…" she began in a caressing voice, her hand that he apparently didn't take notice to still on his back slid upwards towards his neck. "I know you don't like discussing private matters but… I can't help but feel like you're wanting to marry Joey for an ulterior motive. It's not love. I can tell. You…" and the hand slid down the front of his chest. "… Aren't homosexual."

Seto's blood ran cold and he frowned darkly at the floor. He had been neglecting this topic with himself from the beginning. He didn't care that he had never had a sexual attraction for men before. He wasn't marrying Joey to have sex with him. He was marrying Joey in order to take over his country. He needed to expand into other lands in order to fulfil his self-decided destiny. The opportunity had risen itself up to him and he had no choice but to take it. If marrying a male was the way to do it, then he did it. Nothing stood in Seto Kaiba's way.

"You're right…" he admitted quietly, so low that Kisara had to strain her ears to hear him. "I'm not marrying Wheeler because of love. I need him under my control in order to take his country over. He's… just ruining things!" Seto grabbed at his hair with frustration, cursing Joey Wheeler over and over again in his mind.

Kisara pulled her bottom lip between her teeth nervously before scooting closer to him. Her hand slid downwards and smoothed over his abdomen. "You don't need him or his poor excuse of a country Seto. You could… have another country if you wanted power. My country."

Seto froze in his pulling of his hair ends and snapped his attention to her. He finally realized she had her hand on him again and he grabbed for it immediately while eyeing her. She looked anxious by telling him this and he frowned in confusion. "What are you saying Kisara?"

The corners of her lips pulled upwards into a small smile. "Well, I was just thinking that my country is probably the closest country to yours, power speaking and is even more updated. If you and I were to marry it would be easy for us to take control over other countries… together."

Seto didn't know what to think after she said that and continued to stare at her, his hand still grasping hers close to his chest. She was correct in saying that their countries were almost evenly matched and if they were to combine, he was sure to be able to overthrow many countries with the proper persuasion. Including Joey's. It sounded… easy. Too easy, in fact. And he didn't like it. Nothing came easy, as he had learned a very long time ago from his father. Step-father actually.

At his silence, Kisara leaned forwards coyly and reached with her other hand to move his hair out of his eyes. He didn't flinch like one would expect him to. Kisara and he had chemistry and history. She had gained his trust in touching him when he was younger. "What do you say, King Seto?" she murmured, her words caressing him gently. "We could be indestructible. The most powerful couple and country in the world."

She was getting closer to him as he continued to stare at her, mulling her words of power over in his mind, her soft warm lips pressed against his and he realized what she was doing. And he wasn't objecting. He let her kiss him, letting her hand on his cheek slide down to his neck and produce goose bumps onto his skin. A familiar warmth spread over him and it only got hotter as their mouths opened to consume one another's taste. The hand that was holding her hand to his chest released her distractively to take hold of her small hip and press her closer to him. She happily let him and slid her tongue along his to earn his deep breath out his nose that fluttered over her face.

It had been quite some time that Kisara and he had kissed, as this was definitely not their first. They had even messed around quite often when she had come to visit, making sure to take advantage of every shadowy part of his palace. His step-father had pressured them at first, and he was positive her own father had tried to set them up. It had worked, as Seto had never had a female's attention before and Kisara had been smitten with him from the beginning.

However, as her hand slid downwards over his stomach towards his inner legs, Seto forced himself to break away from her. He opened his eyes to see her flushed and disappointed face. "I'm sorry Kisara," he breathed and he stood to get away from her before she could continue to seduce him. "As tempting as this offer is, I can't. I've made my decision and I never go back on what I say."

Kisara was shocked over his rejection and it was written all over her face. He spun around to stare out his window, trying to calm his hormones. The blond haired boy that had run out on him the night before kept flashing before his eyes. The kiss he had bestowed on him was unforgettable, despite the motives behind it. Never once had he kissed a male before, but in all honesty, it hadn't been repulsive. Joey had been angry of course, but caught off guard and had even responded a little to it before Seto had pulled away.

Kisara's plans were very enticing, too enticing. Power had always allured him, something that his step-father had drilled into him at a too young age. But he knew that if he kept on in his step-father's wishes that only destruction would come of it. With the death of Gozaburo Kaiba, Seto had made up his mind on how he wanted to run the country. Supremacy was one thing, but obliteration was another.

And if he had to pretend to be a homosexual, so be it. At least Joey Wheeler wasn't revolting. It could be a lot worse, he decided.

"I'm going to get Prince Wheeler back. And nothing is going to stop me."

oO0Oo

Joey awoke and momentarily forgot where he was. Opening his eyes he immediately looked out the window to see the setting sun and the familiar scenery of his homeland. Breathing a rush of relief, he snuggled back into his pillow. And then he felt the warmth of a body that was pressed against him. Never before awakening to a body next to him, Joey felt horror spread through him and he automatically threw a punch into the stranger's body.

A loud yelp echoed through the room and Duke jumped at the harsh contact before falling off the bed haphazardly. Joey's brown eyes widened in realization and he clumsily got off the bed to make a snatch for Duke, to help him up.

Glowering up at his blond friend, Duke swatted Joey's hands away. "Get off me dude! What the hell is your problem anyway?"

Joey's face turned crimson. "Sorry! I forgot you fell asleep with me!"

Duke shoved himself up and retied his band around his head. "Yeah well, stop and think before you start throwing punches."

Joey slumped his shoulders, feeling guilty. He had just punched his crush while waking up next to him in bed. How low could he feel? "Sorry Duke. I might have a problem."

"Yeah, you do. You're rash," Duke said with a growing smirk as he sat on the bed to pull his boots on.

Joey immediately grew defensive at the remark, not liking to admit his flaws despite how spot on they were. "Am not! I just wasn't expectin' to be next to ya when I woke up, kay? I thought I was still at Kaiba's… and…"

Duke looked up at him as his voice trailed off and he caught sight of Joey's expression. "Joey? Are you sure you're okay with being here? Last night, you were angry. I get it. But I dunno. Something is off."

Joey's face distorted into a façade of nothing bothering him before falling into a guilty slump onto the bed next to Duke. "I… well I kinda feel guilty. Kaiba hasn't been all that bad to me, I guess. A'course he's been controlling and all that, I knew he would be. But he is compromisin' with me and I think that he was tryin' to make the situation better for me. And I just… left him. Cause I was angry."

Duke eyed him for a moment, reading the immense guilt that was washing over his blond friend. "Well you do make rash decisions when you're angry. Or hurt."

Joey sighed and ran a hand over his face. "I don't want to go back though. I don't want to marry him, Duke. I don't love him."

Duke threw an arm over his shoulders and Joey couldn't help but fall into his embrace for comfort. "No one said you had to love him Joey. You just have to live with him. I know it is probably hard to do, as it's Kaiba, but because he isn't your biggest fan and is trying to deal with you, I suppose it'd be fair if you tried to deal with him." Duke braced himself for a defensive retort, but when he didn't receive one, he added, "It's your decision man."

Joey inhaled Duke's scent, momentarily getting lost within it, before exhaling his guilty emotions. "I need to get my mind in the right place, Duke. I'm all jumbled up like scrambled eggs, ya know?"

Duke chuckled and nodded his head, his cheek pressing up against Joey's hair. "I understand. And I think I might have the right solution for it. How about, instead of confronting your parents – since we all know how that's gonna go down – we could sneak ya out of the palace and stay over at Yugi's. Sound good?"

Joey's whole body lit up with his eyes at the idea and he perked up out of Duke's hold to grin. "Let's go!"

oO0Oo

A small spiky haired kid pulled open the door to reveal Joey and Duke in his doorway with goofy grins on their faces. Not expecting either of them, especially Joey, Yugi Muto jumped into Joey's arms and engulfed him into an attempted bone crushing hug. However, with how small he was, it wasn't that tight, but Joey got the message.

"Joey! I am so glad to see you!" he exclaimed cheerfully as Joey hugged him back, picking him up before collecting him into a playful neck lock.

"How'ya doin' bud? I feel like I haven't seen ya in forever!" Joey said just as happily before letting the struggling Yugi go.

"I know! With the whole marriage thing, I thought I'd never see you again. Aren't you supposed to be with King Seto?" Yugi questioned, clearly confused. His confusion only worsened as Duke grabbed his attention while silently trying to cut him off from the subject.

Joey was unfazed by it and shrugged his shoulders, easily putting Duke's fears of him relapsing into the guilt he had been experiencing back in his bedroom to rest. "I need a break. Know of any cool places I could stay to do that? My parents don't know I'm here."

Yugi's heart leapt at the idea. "Here's fine! Gram'pa is in the kitchen making some tea. He'll be fine with you staying!" He said before leading them inside the small comfy house, closing the door behind them.

The smells of spices and herbs filled Joey's nostrils, sending him back in time to when he'd come and spend a few days there with Yugi to get away from his controlling father and way too meek mother. He had always been so thankful of Yugi and his grandfather for letting him stay. Solomon Muto was like a father figure to him, always there to give him advice or just to nitpick you into doing the right thing. And for Joey, that was always difficult for him to do on his own.

"Gram'pa! Guess who was at the door? Duke and Joey!" Yugi said all chipper like, while beaming and throwing himself into a chair at the table.

Solomon was at the table himself and he looked up at the door way to see Joey and Duke enter. At the sight of the old man, Joey ran over and grabbed Solomon into a tight hug, awkwardly so since the man was still seated at the table.

"Gramps! I haven't seen ya in ages!"

Solomon chuckled before pushing the boy off of him sternly. "Then obviously you've forgotten to control yourself," he stated, making Joey's grin falter guiltily before Solomon grinned with a laugh at succeeding in messing with the blond. "Just kidding. Good to see you Joey! And you as well Duke."

Duke smiled in greeting, placing himself next to Yugi at the table. Joey playfully glared at Solomon. "Ya might be an old man, Gramps, but ya still got it," he said with a laugh and sat down as well.

Solomon smirked. "Of course I do. Yugi, why don't you make your guests some tea as well. I'd do it but my knees aren't feeling the greatest tonight."

Yugi jumped up and went to prepare them some cups as Joey frowned worriedly at Solomon. "What's wrong with your knees?"

Yugi rolled his eyes from behind the counter as Duke smirked knowingly. "Don't listen to him Joey," Yugi responded before Solomon could answer for himself. At which the old man proceeded to pout. "He's always throwing out guilt trips in order to make us young people do stuff."

"It's working isn't it?" Solomon grumpily retorted as Joey exchanged glances between Duke and Yugi before busting out into laughter.

"That's what I'ma do when I get old. Boss people around and blame it on my fragile bones!" Joey said with a grin, throwing his hands behind his head smugly.

"Let's remember this when he does become old. Then we can throw him off a cliff," Duke retorted, making Yugi and Solomon laugh as Joey glowered at the brunette.

"Hey!" Joey said, acting very defensive as Duke was supposed to back him up. After all Duke was his crush… even if he didn't know it. Didn't that entitle him to be on his side? Maybe not. Oh well.

Duke just smirked over at Joey as Yugi appeared at the table with the steaming mugs of tea. As Joey took it from him, he immediately thought back to when he would have tea with Seto each night. Frowning down at the mug that was less fancy looking and much homier, Joey hesitated before taking a sip. Duke caught the expression and he nudged him with his knee, making the blond look up at him questioningly.

Duke just gave him a knowing look and Joey blushed, realizing he had been caught thinking about Seto again. He needed to stop.

"So do you want me to call Tristan and see if he can come over too? We could make a sleepover out of it, like old times," Yugi suggested with a smile as Duke stiffened up alongside Joey. The blond frowned over at his friend.

"I don't think Tristan would want to see me here, honestly," Duke relented, ignoring Joey's probing gaze.

Yugi blushed and looked down at his mug uncomfortably. Joey was deeply confused by this. "What's wrong? Why wouldn't he want to see you?" he asked, looking between Duke and Yugi.

Solomon decided to answer for the seemingly silent boys as they didn't look comfortable to explain anything. "Well, while you were at Pious, the boys went hiking. They ended up getting lost and Duke here ended up falling into a river. Mr. Taylor jumped in after him and ended up saving him, to be honest" –

"He performed CPR on him, mouth to mouth, and Duke punched him for it," Yugi finished quickly in a rush, with a weird look over to Duke. Joey's eyes trained themselves on the brunette who shifted under his gaze.

"It was a reflex. I didn't mean to hurt him," he tried to explain himself, a red color spreading over his cheeks as he refused to make eye contact with anyone.

Despite the growing jealousy that Joey was currently experiencing, thinking of Tristan's mouth on Duke's, the blond snorted. "And you say I'm rash."

Duke finally scowled over to Joey, thinking about hitting him in the shoulder, but decided not to since it wouldn't help his case at the moment. "I didn't mean it Joey. And now he hates me," Duke said bitterly, before standing up suddenly and leaving the room.

Joey's heart caught in his throat and he watched Duke leave. Well now the guilt was back. Just now it was on someone else too. He hadn't meant to hurt Duke's feelings. He had just been trying to lighten his mood. He too stood to go apologize, but Solomon reached out and grabbed Joey's wrist.

"Leave him be, Joey. He needs some time to think," he stated and Joey reluctantly sat back down in his chair.

"I'm confused," Joey admitted, looking over at Yugi. "Why is Tristan so angry at Duke when it was an accident? Tristan can be a hardhead at times, but it just doesn't make any sense to throw away their friendship because of it. Is there something I'm missing?"

Yugi frowned and tilted his head as he looked back at Joey. "You mean, you don't know?"

"Of course he doesn't know, Yugi. Even before he left for Pious, he hasn't been around as often," Solomon defended Joey who blushed with even more guilt at not spending enough time with his friends. "Duke doesn't know this, and I'm telling you this because I feel like you could possibly help the situation Joey. But, we suspect that Tristan has feelings for Duke."

Joey's whole body became frozen at Solomon's words and he went into shock. His eyes widened and his mouth fell open into a gape. Tristan could have feelings for Duke? No. No it couldn't be true. No, he liked Duke! And Tristan was a heterosexual, right? Right. No, they must have it wrong. It didn't make any sense.

"No," Joey accidently let slip and the Muto's looked over at him. Realizing he had said it aloud, he quickly covered himself. "I-I mean, no way. That's weird. Tristan doesn't like boys."

"You haven't seen him in a while Joey. Tristan has changed a lot since he came back from boot camp," Yugi said quietly, threading his fingers together in front of him on the table.

Joey had completely forgotten that Tristan had been sent to boot camp by his father a few months ago. Tristan and he had the fact that they both had controlling fathers in common. However, he felt for Tristan who had been made to become a soldier against his will. However, it didn't explain why Tristan had become homosexual.

Solomon read the easily expressed features on Joey's face. "The boy has been traumatized by what he has gone through, I'm afraid. He's lost all direction and his father has been quite the ungrateful man. He's even more defensive than he has been in all his life. I think he is quite confused by how he feels for Duke and is fighting it. If his father found out, it would be the end of him."

Comprehension finally came through for Joey and he slumped into his seat, feeling very sorry for Tristan. They'd been friends since he was a small child, along with Duke and Yugi. It was sad to know Tristan was going through an even harder situation than himself. With that revelation, he realized just how spoiled he was acting. At least he wasn't being made to fight, to kill. At any moment, if they were to go into a war, Tristan would be made to go off and fight. All Joey had to do was put up with Seto's moodswings.

That is, if he went back to Seto.

"Oh man… poor Tris," Joey exhaled, rubbing his forehead.

"You all are still talking about him?" Duke asked, reappearing into the room looking better than he had before.

Yugi and Joey flushed guiltily, but the brunette sat back down with a shrug. "Eh, what the hell. Call him over. I've been thinking. It's probably best we confront this tension between us. Otherwise it'll just drive a wedge between us all. And with Joey being whisked away by a strange king and Tristan being made to be a soldier, who knows when we'll all be able to hang out again."

Yugi perked up happily at Duke's decision and Joey gave him a wary smile. At least for now, he needed to put some things behind him and let himself enjoy being around his friends. Because Duke was right, who knew when the next time they'd be able to hang out together again.

"Yeah, and besides! Ya never know with Yugi, he might be the one to leave us all first!" Duke added with a wicked grin to the small boy who faltered in his pressing of phone buttons to scowl over at the brunette.

At the sudden lightness, Joey piped up. "Yeah, who knows, he could find some rich playboy and be the successor of us all!"

Yugi blushed brightly and ran from the room to call Tristan, as he didn't like the attention on him. Solomon chuckled under his breath at his grandson's reaction to the other boys' jabs. If Tristan were to come over, he was sure he wouldn't be getting any sleep. It would be like old times.

oO0Oo

"The prince's family are not aware of his arrival, master. It will be quite easy to succeed," a dark figure emerged from the shadows to kneel at a man's heels.

"Good. Bring him to me."


	7. Screwin' Up Cause It's Cool

Chapter 7: Screwin' Up Cause It's Cool

Joey finally looked up from the blank stare he'd been giving his fingers as he and the rest of his so called gang sat around a roaring fire. They had been done eating for quite some time and if it hadn't been for the fact he hadn't eaten all day then he probably would have noticed the tension right away. However, he had been noticing it for about ten minutes as no one spoke. The only action from any of them during this time had been their eyes moving back and forth awkwardly between each other.

Joey didn't get it. He'd known Tristan for his whole life. He was a hard guy, he had to be. Especially now, which he understood. But to turn your back on your best bud because you think you have a crush on him was just silly sounding. He had been publically gay for a very long time and had a crush on Duke. The latter was still a secret, but either way, it didn't make him hate the guy. Sure Duke and him had – lack of better words — duked it out on occasion, but he'd never turn his back on him. He loved him!

Nonetheless, Joey was surprised to not feel as much jealousy as he once thought he would. He had been in love with Duke for years and now that someone else had an interest in him, shouldn't it have made him angry? Upset? Something? But it didn't. And that was puzzling. His blond eyebrows furrowed and he looked back down at his fingers with little interest. Things had changed. He was technically still engaged to Seto Kaiba and he was a fool to think that the King of Pious hadn't had an effect on him. He wasn't in love with the guy, but he did have a different perspective of him now that he was away long enough to really think about it without Seto breathing down his neck every turn.

"Can't we go back to the way it was?" Yugi's voice broke the stiff silence and Joey looked up at him curiously. His violet eyes were downcast and his feet were shifting in the dirt below him. He was a poster child for uncomfortable. Yugi was never okay with confrontation and it was evident in his voice and the dusty rose on his cheeks that he was attempting to play mediator to hold his friends together despite feeling troubled.

"No," Tristan's harsh and surprisingly gruff voice answered. "That bastard over there still thinks he can hit people when they try to save their lives."

Duke's emerald eyes were held on Tristan's face with disbelief when Joey regarded his crush's reaction. "It was an accident Tristan. I've told you that before. And I've also said sorry," Duke stated before exhaling dramatically. "I'll say it again if it makes you stop hating me."

Tristan only huffed and looked away from them all, clearly deciding on pouting instead. Joey rolled his eyes. Typical Tristan. "Look dude, Duke's saying sorry. It was an accident, can you just forgive him so we can enjoy tonight?" Joey asked the spike haired boy. "I've just gotten back from Kaiba's and I was lookin' forward to hanging out with you guys."

Tristan threw a dark glare at Joey. "I'm sorry! Where were you when all of this was going down? Oh yeah, you were screwing around with Kaiba. So shut up Joey. You don't know what you're talking about."

Joey couldn't stop his temper from flaring and he was on his feet immediately, glowering down at his muscular friend. "Screwin' around – You don't know what you're talkin' 'bout Tris! I was forced to go there and you know it! You're being an asshole! Get over yourself and stop actin' like a pansy and man up!"

Tristan was now on his feet and standing a foot away from the angry blond, his own glare firmly in place. "Did you really just call me a pansy?"

Joey's eyes widened in shock as the atmosphere suddenly grew cold, despite being around a large fire. Red faced, Joey couldn't believe what just came out of his supposed friend's mouth.

"Take that back Tristan. Joey was just trying to help," Duke stepped between them, his green eyes flashing with wrath. But Joey didn't need his help. If Tristan wanted to act like an asshole, then he'd be treated like one.

Shoving his way past Duke, Joey threw a punch, landing it right in Tristan's mouth. "That one, wasn't an accident. Learn the difference and maybe we can become friends again," Joey bellowed, watching as the brunette took a step back from the impact and was now clutching his jaw in pain. His chocolate colored eyes stared back at Joey with an unreadable expression. A small hand that Joey guessed was Yugi's pulled on his arm, trying to get him to stop but Joey threw the hand off along with the flat out stare of disbelief over Duke's face.

"I'm taking a walk," Joey muttered heatedly before spinning on his heel and heading into the forest to the right of Yugi's house, ignoring Yugi's shouts to make him come back.

No, he couldn't face what he'd just done or what he'd just been called by the man that he had thought he knew. The man that had been like a brother to him. The rational side of him told him that he had struck out because he was fighting his attraction to Duke, or males in general, and had lashed out at Joey for it. But the hurt side was deeply wounded.

Kicking a nearby tree out of fury, Joey threw himself down against the trunk and stuffed his head in his fingers with his knees propped up. He had thought returning would be a better solution to his problem but it seemed to be just as troubling as it had been with Seto. Growling at thought of his captor, Joey grabbed at the ends of his hair with frustration. This was stupid.

And it was in this rage of confusion, hurt, and anguish that Joey accidently fell asleep before he even realized it, propped up against a tree and everything.

oO0Oo

"What the fuck Tristan?!" Duke shoved the brunette hard, making him stumble backwards towards the log he'd been previously sitting on. "Why'd you call Joey that?!"

"He pissed me off," Tristan's only answer came out matter-of-factly, however he still seemed to be dazed that he'd been punched. But he'd deserved it. Joey had been going through enough crap that he didn't need to deal with this too. Tristan rubbed his jaw, his exterior looking as angry as the guilt inside of him.

"You could have said anything other than that," Duke said angrily, not letting it go for an instant.

Yugi looked close to tears, fearful for his group of friends that seemed to be disintegrating in front of his eyes. "Guys, please stop fighting…" his small wobbly voice went unheard as Duke shoved at Tristan again. This time, succeeding in pushing him over and landing on his behind on the hard ground.

"Would you stop it Duke? I get the fucking picture!" Tristan retorted, regaining his composure after he'd fallen.

Duke crossed his arms over his chest that was moving up and down from his breathing. "I don't think you do Tristan. Joey has been going through a lot of shit lately and you didn't have to make it worse!"

"And I haven't?! I get back from boot camp to be punched by my best friend for saving his life!"

"Guys please…"

"It was a fucking accident! But you know what? I'm not sorry anymore. You're acting like an asshole!"

"Well do you know what? I—"

"STOP! FIGHTING!"

Duke and Tristan both turned their eyes to Yugi who looked like a puffed up small animal that had done so to make itself appear bigger. Breathing heavily, Yugi busted into tears. "I hate fighting," he mumbled before turning around and leaving the two to fend for themselves as he returned into the house.

After that, Duke wasn't sure what to say. He was still angry as hell but after Yugi's outburst, it was almost not worth it. Joey had left, Yugi had left, and maybe it was his turn. "Great job Tristan. Now everyone's mad at you."

"Just me? You were the one who started the whole thing," Tristan said as if continuing the argument, however his voice was lower this time and he didn't sound half as angry. He sounded resentful and Duke looked up at him curiously.

"You – it doesn't matter. I'm tired of fighting Tristan," Duke said with a sigh, running his hand over his face. "I'm done trying to apologize to you. I'm done trying to be your friend. I'm done caring because you obviously don't." And then he turned to leave.

He hadn't even made it three steps towards Yugi's house before he was suddenly spun around and his lips were smashed against by warm hard ones. It took him two seconds exactly to realize what was going on and his eyes were wide open with astonishment. Tristan. Was. Kissing. Him. What the hell.

Tristan pulled back and he stared hard into Duke's green eyes. "Does it look like I don't care?" he asked gruffly, his breath blowing out onto Duke's face repeatedly from how breathless he was. Duke didn't know what to say.

When Duke didn't respond to him, a bright blush spread over Tristan's cheeks and he tore his eyes off of Duke to stare at the ground beneath his feet. Duke sensed his distress and realized he'd been silent for too long. "I… uh…" What do I say? He wondered blankly. His mind didn't want to cooperate.

"Forget it," Tristan snapped and left, leaving Duke standing there watching him. Alone.

oO0Oo

Joey's eyes slowly slid open but then snapped shut. Ugh, the light was blinding! Did he forget to close the curtains? Shifting, he realized he was sitting up. Weird. Popping one eye open, Joey was stunned to realize where he was and opened his other eye to look around properly. The forest. And the tree… the fight. Groaning, Joey went to stand up but was surprised to find himself unable to. Okay he was sore, but he wasn't that sore. He'd slept in a cupboard one time to hide from his father and it'd been less comfortable.

Pulling himself away from the tree, he felt a bind around his middle. Glancing down at himself, he realized he was tied up by a thick rope. He was tied… to a tree? Okay I definitely don't remember that one, he thought.

"Good morning," a strange voice spoke from beside him. Joey's head snapped up to the voice, before zeroing in on the face of the owner. Platinum blond hair, light eyes, dark tan skin. Never seen him before. "I'm sure you're wondering why I tied you to that tree you're so fond of."

Joey's wide eyed stare turned into a glare. "Why'd you tie me up and who are you?" he asked quickly and of course, indignantly.

"No one you need to worry about," the man said with an obscure laugh and he pushed himself off of the opposite tree that he had been leaning on to approach Joey, a wide smirk on his lips.

Joey snorted. "Untie me so I can kick your ass," Joey threatened, earning another laugh in his direction. Joey didn't get the joke. He was serious.

"Is that your sort of plea bargain? You're funny, Prince Wheeler," the man said with dim amusement.

"Wasn't supposed to be funny," Joey muttered from his glare on the ground. "What do you want with me?"

"All in good time," the man said with a shrug that told him that he couldn't care less. "I'm just here to collect you. I could have just kidnapped you in your sleep but what's the fun in that when I can take you now when you'd put up a fight?" he said dangerously with a wicked grin on his face.

Joey scowled. "You're not taking me anywhere! Now untie me!"

"Such petty orders from a prince that's bound to a tree," the man mused, as if this pleased him. This pissed Joey off. The man moved around him as Joey struggled to be set free with a grunt. The rope was tied really tight around him, almost giving him burns through his blue cotton short sleeved shirt. He wished he would have kept his royal coat on, as it was much thicker and would have protected him.

A sawing sound was heard before the rope let loose and Joey struggled to get to his feet, despite the sore stiffness he felt from being in that position all night. Keeping his balance, Joey wished he had his sword on him but instead had to depend on his fists and-or feet. The man stood before him with a grin of anticipation. He was ready for him to fight him. What a weirdo.

Throwing the first punch, the man blocked him with his palm, before grabbing Joey's wrist with his other hand and pulling him in. Joey pulled his knee up quickly, connecting it into the man's gut before he could get too close. The man grumbled at it but didn't show any signs of pain. Then it was the man's turn to throw a punch which Joey moved out of the way from before it could get him in the face. However, he hadn't been ready for the second punch that ended up connecting him in the jaw, sending him backwards onto the ground.

Damn. That man had some strength.

"Come on Wheeler. I know you're better than that," the man taunted and Joey growled, standing up quickly and attempting to pounce on him. All the man had to do was take a side step and Joey lost his balance and fell to the ground again.

The man was making a fool out of him!

"Didn't your father ever teach you how to fight?" the man asked curiously as he once again blocked Joey's punch after he stood back up. "I'm sorry, but I have to say I'm disappointed."

"Shut up!" Joey raged, throwing himself yet again at the white haired man who grabbed him by the arm and swung him around, his back harshly roughing up against the man's muscular chest. Joey struggled, trying to get out of the man's grasp but to no avail. The man was incredibly strong.

"If that's what you call 'putting up a fight' then perhaps I should have just taken you in your sleep when I had the chance," the twisted man replied into Joey's ear. "It would have saved us time as now it's been wasted."

And before Joey could utter any other word to reply, he felt a sharp pain in his head and he collapsed into darkness.

oO0Oo

The door slid open, revealing Joey's bedroom and Seto moved across the floor inside. The whole room smelled like the blond, making something strange twist up in Seto's stomach. He frowned deeply and continued over to the bed. The covers were thrown off the mattress, as if Joey had made an incredibly hasty exit. Like he had wanted to leave this place if his life depended on it. Had Seto really been that horrible to him? He hadn't treated him too much like a prisoner… did Joey hate him that passionately?

Not liking what these thoughts were making him feel, Seto moved to the window and looked outside at the setting sun. It'd been almost a whole day without him there.

"Get out of my way," a growl-like voice barked from behind Seto, followed by a "You're in my way, thief."

Seto recognized both voices and turned around to see his two faithful guards, Bakura and Yami. They'd grown up together from the age of twelve, but all three had come from different backgrounds. Bakura, the tanned muscular white haired man with a dramatic scar down his face, had lost both his parents in a war not far from Pious. He'd had to live off what he stole from the more privileged people until he attempted to steal from the Kaiba brothers on a day where they had escaped their step-father's clutches, not realizing that Seto was a Prince. He'd been caught by Seto and they had tousled. Seto had been ready to turn the boy in, but Mokuba had made him change his mind – taking pity on him. Bakura hadn't wanted their pity, but Seto promised him he'd never have to steal again if he agreed to be a guard for them. Bakura had reluctantly agreed.

Yami had been different though. Yami had appeared in Pious, looking out of place and not knowing practically anything. Bakura had actually found him near the guards' stables. His star shaped spiky hair of a multiplication of black and magenta, accented with bright blond bangs that ventured around his face and up through the black spikes, had taken everyone off guard. He was tan, like Bakura though, and Bakura was curious to know where he'd come from. Upon asking him, Yami didn't know. He only knew his name and Bakura assumed he had amnesia of some kind. He then took him to Seto, telling him that Yami didn't have a clue where he was or who his family was. Seto decided to get him onto the guard too, despite his better judgment.

As time went on, Bakura and Yami realized they weren't so matched to live together. Seto would constantly hear them argue or even fist fight. Seto would often go down and visit them for amusement when he was having a rather tough day with his step-father. And they had been like that ever since.

Unfortunately, Bakura hadn't met anyone from his own kingdom and Yami still didn't remember anything before he was found.

When Seto's step-father died, he appointed them both to be his right hand guards. Despite their bitter quarrels between each other, Seto didn't trust anyone else.

"Took you two long enough," he stated as he turned around to face them, to which Bakura smirked widely and Yami gave him a polite smile.

"Fuck off Seto," Bakura replied, to which Seto gave him a leer. Bakura was probably the only one to ever get away with saying such things to him.

"Prince Wheeler has left?" Yami questioned, getting to the point as his eyes scoped out the room before them all and Seto crossed his arms over his chest stubbornly in order to keep himself composed.

"Yes. And I'm going to be retrieving him," he explained smoothly as Yami eyed him curiously.

"So what, do you need back up or something? Is Wheeler really that dangerous?" Bakura laughed, despite there being no humor in Seto's tone of voice.

Seto turned his steely blue eyes on the thief, not amused. "No. I need you two to watch Kisara and her guards while I'm gone. I don't trust them, knowing her father, and I would rather be put at ease that they aren't harming my younger brother."

Yami nodded with understanding as Bakura rolled his eyes, apparently not happy with being someone's watchdog for very long. It was obvious that he'd rather be in on some action. "Whatever," he muttered, knowing he'd do it anyways.

Seto nodded in thanks. "Okay. I'll be leaving in a few minutes." He turned his gaze on the floor thoughtfully, before noticing something smashed under the bed. Narrowing his eyes, he bent down to retrieve it to see what it was, fully aware of Yami and Bakura's eyes on him as he did so. Peering down at the necklace in his hand, he let the chain fall between his fingers. Dog tags – and as he inspected further, it had Joey's name written upon them.

"What's that?" Yami asked, taking a step towards Seto but the brunette stuffed the necklace into his coat pocket quickly before anyone could see.

"Nothing. Get moving."

Yami frowned at Seto as Bakura glared. "What a nice way to speak with your supposed friends," the white haired man retorted sarcastically.

Seto passed by him swiftly towards the door, with a flash of a smirk. "No one ever said I was nice."

oO0Oo

"We have to leave Marik!" a desperate voice hissed.

"He's not going to be happy if we return empty handed," a familiar dark voice snapped back.

"We'll deal with that when it comes. My sister's probably already told him that we have failed. So let's go before they see us!"

A crack of a branch was heard in the distance.

"Fine!" Marik growled once last time before the area went quiet.

Joey's honey colored eyes reluctantly opened, regardless of that fact that they didn't want to. Blinking a couple times, he took in his surroundings. Still in the forest. Gods, he needed to get out of this place. He was tired of waking up and seeing trees. Sitting up from the awkward position on the ground, his head suddenly felt like it was splitting in two.

"Fuck!" he sucked in with a breath as he clutched the back of his head.

A sound of bushes being moved had his eyes darting in front of him, rapidly remembering why he was in pain and on the ground. That man! Where the hell was he? Without moving his head too much, Joey looked around him to try to spot him out.

"When I find that mother"—

"Joey?" a small voice rang through the clearing and Joey's eyes widened into large saucers, cutting off his angry muttering. A heart shaped face appeared from the bushes, followed by a long mane of dark red hair framing beautiful green eyes. He'd never thought his younger sister could look so beautiful until that moment.

"Oh gods Serenity, I'm so relieved to see you!" Joey breathed out, almost choking on emotion as he struggled to stand up. Serenity rushed to his side immediately, her small hands smoothing over him to apparently check for injuries.

"What are you doing here Joey? You should be in Pious with King Kaib—"

"King Seto," he quickly corrected without thinking about it, but then grabbed a hold of her into a bone crushing hug, inhaling her flowery scent that he missed so badly. He just hadn't realized how much. "I came back. I couldn't stay there, Serenity," he explained as she pulled back to see his face. She frowned down at him.

"Father's not going to be happy," was all she said and Joey scowled, but then hissed in pain when the expression pulled on the bruise of his head.

"My fu – stupid head," he stated as he let her go to grab his throbbing head, his sister turning concerned for him. However panic began bubbling up inside of Joey, realizing that man could still be out there. He didn't want his sister there. "Come on, let's go – home," he decided, assuming he'd have to deal with his father at some point.

Serenity nodded and helped him up, listening to him curse at himself underneath his breath. "Joey, what are you doing out here and how did you get hurt?" She sounded really upset for him.

Joey gritted his teeth as he followed her out of the forest, down the path towards their home. "I was out with my friends, hanging out. I got into a fight with Tristan and came in here to cool off… I guess I fell asleep," Joey explained uncomfortably and Serenity giggled.

"Figures," she said with a shake of her head in amusement. Joey didn't mind her making fun of him, in fact his lips curved upwards. He was just glad he was there with his sister.

"Why are you out here then?" Joey questioned, getting ready to make fun of her back.

Serenity blushed and looked away. "I needed a walk. Mom's making me wear frilly dresses again…"

Joey couldn't help but laugh at that. It was good to be home.

oO0Oo

The meeting with his father wasn't going over so well and it quickly changed his mind. Upon entering the Wheeler mansion, he'd been confronted by his father immediately as he had been coming down the large stairwell for breakfast. He was definitely not happy to see his son and Joey realized that he was in very big trouble.

"But this is what you wanted, Joey. You wanted to marry a man," his father pointed out to him, as if for the hundredth time since his birthday. Joey growled from the chair across from his father, wishing he'd stop saying it.

"This isn't how I wanted it to go, dad. I didn't want to be forced. Especially to Kaiba." Joey was desperately trying to keep his temper in check this time, wanting his father to take him seriously. It would do no good to have him yelling, even though every bone inside of him screamed to tell him to fuck off.

His father pinched the bridge of his nose with his finger and thumb, clearly not wanting to speak about this as it was stressing him.

What did he have to stress over? Joey thought disdainfully. He wasn't the one being made to marry someone he hated.

"Joseph you are a prince and the heir to the throne. Or have you forgotten that in order to act like an immature delinquent?" his father asked, sound tired.

Check your temper, Joey, the blond reminded himself at the insult. Keep your cool.

"Of course I remember dad," Joey retorted, unable to keep a hint of malice from entering his voice as his and his father's eyes locked. "I don't want it this way, is all."

It was at that point that his father seemed to break and Joey saw his own temper on the face of the older man. "Don't you realize how you're portraying our country? Pious is the best organized, wealthiest, and modernized country in the world!" the King yelled as Joey shrunk in his seat, feeling as if he was a child all over again. He'd never made his father this angry before. "Do you know what it would mean for this country if we combined? Our country would be everything that my father wanted! I wouldn't have to worry about what will come of it once I'm gone, Joseph! And by you tarnishing it, you're ruining the fate of our country. How can I expect you to rule a country anyways if you're just throwing a fit over a marriage? I could have arranged you to marry a woman, Joseph. But no, I respected your orientation. I had the bachelors compete. Only the most fitting man would marry you. King Seto Kaiba is! So stop acting like such a child and man up! You're eighteen now, start acting like it and start thinking of our country instead of your own selfish feelings."

Joey was at a loss for words. His father had no faith in him to rule the country and that wasn't fair. He'd done everything that his father had told him to do, despite everything that he ever believed in. He'd allowed his father to control his life. And when one thing happened to be the final straw that Joey couldn't agree with, he was being told that he wouldn't be fit to be King… but his father was right. Joey hadn't been thinking about the country the whole time. He'd only been expressing how much he hated the fact that he had to marry Seto. Did that really make him unfit to rule the country? Was he too selfish?

Warm tears began to prick at his eyes.

Troubled now by his own guilt and insecurities, plus the pressure his father was instilling in him, Joey stood up and left the room. He couldn't do this. He couldn't be shamed like this.

Fully intending on locking himself in his bedroom, his arm was suddenly caught by a warm hand and he spun around with a glare, expecting it to be his father.

Duke.

His glare faltered. He didn't want to deal with last night right now. Too many things had happened since then.

"Joey… are you okay?" he asked hesitantly, full of worry as always. Duke cared a lot about him, no matter how much of a screw up he was. Joey's feelings for him suddenly came rushing back to him, making him unaware of what he was doing.

Before his thoughts could catch up to him, Joey went from staring at Duke blankly to grabbing the brunette and smashing their lips together. He didn't want to feel the way he was feeling. He just wanted to feel cared for, loved, accepted. Duke could give him that. He needed Duke.

The lips underneath his were frozen though, unmoving and Joey pulled away breathlessly. He'd finally done what he'd wanted to do for so long and for some reason, as Joey stared into Duke's wide, stunned eyes, he didn't feel any happier. He licked his lips uneasily, realizing what he'd just done. There'd be no going back from this.

"Joey why… why did you kiss me?" Duke asked seriously, staring at the blond intently.

Joey didn't know what to say and his mouth parted to speak, but no words came out. He felt like crying or screaming, but his insides were so conflicted that he did neither. He only just stared at his best friend in shock. He'd just kissed Duke.

Duke's hands clutched Joey's arms, not understanding what was going on with his friend. He was barely breathing and he'd never seen him this way before. "Joey."

"I'm sorry," Joey muttered suddenly before pulling himself out of Duke's grasp, but the brunette snatched at him before he could go too far, spinning him around to look at him again. Joey was such a flight risk.

"You need to explain," Duke demanded, his own mind spinning over the fact that two of his friends had kissed him in the matter of two days. He was confused himself with unidentified emotions.

Joey's cheeks reddened uncomfortably and the blond exhaled, unable to look at him in the eyes. "I've wanted to do that for a really long time," Joey admitted quietly but before he could say anything more over the matter they were interrupted.

"As touching as this, I'm here to take back what's rightfully mine."

The steely voice of Seto Kaiba ran down Joey's spine and he spun around to stare at his fiancé with disbelief. So he had come.

"Took you long enough," Joey coughed out, his honey colored eyes narrowing at the sight of the blue eyed brunette standing in the middle of the room in all his glory, wearing his light blue extravagant coat.

A dark eyebrow rose upwards and Seto looked at him inquisitively. "Waiting for me, Wheeler?" Seto taunted, approaching him and Duke slowly. The brunette held a glare on Duke for a moment before looking back at his fiancé. "No matter, let's go."

Joey pulled away from Seto before he could reach out to grab him, and he snarled at the brunette. "I'm not going anywhere with y"—

Suddenly, his father appeared in the doorway to the sitting room from behind Seto and the insults that wanted to pour out of Joey's mouth vanished with a nice smack of his mouth closing shut. His words returned to Joey swiftly and he instantly slumped with defeat. If he wanted to prove himself, he'd have to do this. He was fit to be King, dammit! He'd show his father and Seto!

"Fine. Let's go," Joey snapped as then shoved Seto out of the way to walk towards the main doors, promptly ignoring his father's prying eyes.

Seto didn't move at first, stunned at Joey's willingness to come with him. He'd thought for sure he'd have to take the blond kicking and screaming. What the hell was going on with him? Had someone knocked him upside the head and caused sense to spread over him?

Whatever it was, Seto didn't question it. The less he had to behave irrationally, the more he could save his energy for other matters.

"Joey wait! Are you serious?" and then Joey's annoying guard had to step in.

Joey turned around with his hand on the door knob. "I have to be," was all Joey stated, his eyes sad and taking Seto off guard before disappearing out the door.

Seto faltered in his steps at Joey's reaction, still not understanding where all this was coming from. He was obviously missing something.

"King Seto," a quiet rough voice spoke from a different room and Seto turned his attention from the door to Joey's father. Seto rose an eyebrow in question. Did he have something to do with Joey's behavior? Joey had said something about this man controlling everything Joey had ever done. Was this one of those things? He wasn't sure how he felt about it. "Please, take care of my son," the older man said stressfully.

Seto paused, not anticipating that. He didn't know what to say, so he nodded curtly before following Joey out the door.


	8. You Can Talk the All Blue Sky

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ~In memory of Juniper the Dwarf Hamster~

You Can Talk the All Blue Sky

Joey exited his childhood home with a dark look upon his features, the door absently slamming behind him with vengeance. His father was a cruel man, telling him in so many words that he had to marry Seto in order to become king one day. It wasn't fair. But what else was knew? He supposed it could be a lot worse, but he didn't want to think on it. He was too furious.

"Joey?" a small voice from below called to him and he snapped his head up from his brooding to see Yugi, wringing his hands together with two guards on either side of him. The previous night's problems suddenly flew back to him with dread.

"What are you doing here Yug'?" he asked, crossing his arms over his chest. He felt vulnerable at the moment and he didn't want to accidently lash out on the small boy. He wasn't the problem at hand. It wouldn't be fair to him.

Yugi sighed with relief when he realized he wouldn't be yelled at and Joey frowned, but didn't say anything over the matter as Yugi was allowed to approach him up the stairs. "I wanted to say I'm sorry for what happened… last night," he explained and Joey sighed.

"You have no reason to apologize, Yug'. It's all Tristan. So don't apologize for that piece of shit," Joey said through gritted teeth but immediately regretted it when a harsh blush spread over the small boy's cheeks as his violet eyes looked downwards uneasily. Joey exhaled. "I'm sorry Yugi… I"—

His voice broke off as the door behind him swung open. Yugi and Joey both looked towards it to see Seto exiting the palace, a strange expression on his face. But then he suddenly caught sight of Yugi and he frowned. "Yami?" No, it couldn't be. With a better look of the smaller boy, Seto knew he was wrong. This boy looked very similar to Yami, but the differences spoke volumes. Like there was less blond in his star-shaped hair, his eyes were larger, and he was obviously not tan. He was paler than Joey.

Yugi looked confused at the name and Joey scowled. "This is my friend Yugi. Yugi this is… King Seto," the blond introduced distastefully.

A look of realization flooded Yugi's face and he nodded with understanding. "Uh, nice to meet you King Seto," he said politely, but apprehensively. He'd heard a lot of terrible things about the brunette over the years from Joey and Duke.

"My apologies," Seto stated stiffly, taking a step forwards to stand beside Joey, who moved away from him immediately with a glower. "You look a lot like someone I know." Giving Joey a sidelong glance, Seto rolled his eyes at the stubborn angry nature the blond was exposing. "We should leave."

Joey practically growled at the brunette, but began descending down the stairwells past Yugi. Seto followed with a firm nod to Yugi, but the small boy stopped them both.

"You're leaving again?" he asked, almost fearfully.

Joey sighed, his irritated face falling into a mask of defeat. "Yes, I – I have to go Yugi."

Yugi's bottom lip trembled as he glanced over at the brunette. He didn't like the fact that the only friend he could count on these days was moving away with someone like Seto Kaiba. "I…" his voice trailed off with nerves, not knowing what to say. Was there anything to say to get him to stay? He was sure if there was then Joey would have already said it and would not be leaving. A small idea popped into Yugi's head but he didn't feel comfortable with it. He wasn't even sure if they'd allow it. Straightening up, attempting to gain confidence under the scrutinized gazes of Joey and Seto, Yugi tried again. "I'm coming with you."

Joey frowned dramatically, not expecting that from his friend. "Wha…t?" he said dumbly.

Seto then crossed his arms over his chest, not appreciating this invasion. "No you're not." He'd just seen Joey kiss a different friend, what if this one was similar? He would not be allowing fraternization in his palace. It wasn't happening.

Yugi scowled at Seto's words and Joey was sure that he'd never really seen Yugi scowl. It was surprising and very gratifying.

"Joey can't go alone!" Yugi explained, ire threading into his wobbly voice. "H-he needs someone else. I can be there. I can keep him company when he's upset. I can make it so he's not so miserable. If you want this to work between the two of you then you should let me come! I'm his friend!"

Joey stared at Yugi as if seeing him for the first time. It'd be different than last time if he had a friend with him. He had been all by himself before and it'd been torturous. If he had Yugi there, he wouldn't feel so alone. He'd have someone to talk to besides Seto, Mokuba, or Rolland. It'd be… tolerable.

"He's coming, Kaiba. Whether you like it or not," Joey announced, making those blue eyes flash to him with annoyance. Joey stared back with just as much defiance. "If you want me to be okay with this then let Yugi come."

Joey watched Seto's jaw tighten painfully, his eyes hardening for a long moment. He glanced over to Yugi, the obviously innocent boy who was trying so hard to be confident to help his friend staring at him with unease. He didn't know this boy, like he knew Duke. But just by looking at him he could tell that he wasn't anything like the dark haired boy. And… he supposed it'd be logical for Joey to have someone from his home to make him feel better about the situation. As a part of Seto wanted Joey to feel more comfortable with the idea and he didn't want to constantly have to fight with him.

Sighing, Seto relented. "Fine. Might as well turn my palace into a hotel," he muttered before turning away to walk down to his car.

Joey stared at Seto's back with disbelief before Yugi grabbed his arm, breaking his widened gaze. "I'm here for you Joey," Yugi stated and Joey looked down into the wide loyal violet eyes of his friend. Appreciation and deep care for Yugi engulfed the blond wildly.

For the first time in his life, he felt hope within his future. But then he faltered with a thought.

"What about your Grampa, Yugi?"

Yugi looked away uncomfortably, releasing his hold on Joey. "He probably would be upset about it at first, but knowing that I am helping a friend would make it okay," he said with a nod. "Plus, his friend from Acuna will be arriving in a few days. He's been dying for adventure but he doesn't want to leave me by myself. This would give him an opportunity."

That was all Joey needed to hear. Grabbing the small boy into his arms, he hugged him tightly. "You have no idea what this means to me buddy," Joey muttered, a bit of mist appearing in his eyes. Yugi squeaked.

"I can't – breathe!" Yugi gasped and Joey dropped him immediately, giving him a cheesy grin.

"Sorry 'bout that."

"Come on you saps!" Seto's voice called back to them and Joey glared but Yugi just smiled.

oO0Oo

Silence filled the back of the sleek black car. The first couple of hours, Seto had been lost in his own thoughts to really care about it. However, he knew from experience with the blond next to him, silence had never been something Joey was successful with. The fact that he was in fact quiet was beginning to wear down Seto's mind. What had happened? Why was Joey okay with this and why was he not fighting him anymore? It all didn't make sense. Was it because he'd made his friend Yugi sit up in the front with the driver? He had been hoping to have a civil conversation with the blond without distractions.

Nonetheless, Seto's pride kept him from questioning the boy about it. He'd most likely find out soon enough. Maybe once Joey was settled back into the mansion then he'd return to his normal obnoxious self.

Wait, what was he thinking? Since when did he complain about Joey being too well behaved? Hadn't that been what he had wanted from the beginning?

Frowning at himself, Seto chanced a glance over at Joey. He was turned away from him completely, his longer blond hair hanging in his face to cover up any expression he might have had as he stared out the window. Seto held back a sigh but breathed deeply instead. Joey's familiar scent filled his nostrils immediately and he closed his eyes momentarily without thinking about it. He didn't want to think about it.

Joey shifted in his seat and Seto's eyes popped back open to look at him again. He still wasn't looking in his direction. Why did he want him to look in his direction? Seto didn't want to think about that either. The blond was giving him too much trouble and he wasn't even doing anything. And what the hell had that been about with him kissing his guard? The anger that had welled up inside of him when he'd witnessed that had been overwhelming. Joey was his, whether he or anyone else liked it or not. No one would be kissing him except himself.

That is, if that ever happened again. Seto liked to think that it wouldn't be necessary.

Needing to get his mind off of these certain subjects, Seto did something that he thought he might regret.

Casual conversation. "Mokuba missed you," he stated, his quiet voice sounding louder in the silent car.

He watched as the blond visibly tensed up, before shifting uncomfortably in his seat without saying anything. Seto scowled, realizing he'd been anticipating a remark from him. This was dumb.

"He'll be relieved to see you," Seto tried again, keeping his voice even despite the annoyance he felt.

Again. Nothing.

Seto then scoffed, leaning back in his seat with irritation. It was only when he turned towards his own window that Joey finally looked over at Seto with an unreadable expression. Too bad Seto hadn't caught it.

oO0Oo

Bakura leaned up against a doorframe, his thin lips curved upwards into a smirk as he watched a smaller white haired boy fiddle around with a small ball on the floor. He'd been listening to the small chatter that the boy had been muttering for a few minutes now, as he, like a predator, awaited the right moment to confront him.

The thief had taken his role to watch over Kisara and her guards seriously. A little too seriously if you asked Yami, but he didn't understand. For the past day or so, he'd been fascinated by a certain boy who apparently was one of Kisara's guards. Didn't seem like a guard to him, but maybe he had other contributions to him that were not overly obvious. Either way, Bakura found himself wanting to find these sorts of things out.

Without the boy knowing, he'd been observing him from afar. He'd overheard one of the other guards call him Ryou, something that Bakura wasn't surprised to hear. Cooling, refreshing, and-or distant did seem to describe the boy. He'd caught a few glimpses of his innocent looking face, which was pale with large dark chocolate eyes. Simply beautiful to look at, if you asked him.

He apparently was in love with his hamster too. Which was cute as hell… but he'd never admit it.

Breaking Bakura from his thoughts, Ryou stood up quickly with the ball and walked over to a small brightly colored cage off on a shelf. Did the boy really bring the cage and everything with him? Adorable.

Suddenly, Ryou turned around and froze in horror. Bakura hadn't had any time to disappear, but he didn't really want to. His smirk widened a fraction as he pushed himself off of the door frame to stand up correctly.

"Hello," Bakura said in delight and he thought for a second that Ryou might scream.

But he didn't.

"W-who are you?" Ryou asked shakily as Bakura watched a strawberry blush spread over the boy's pale cheeks deliciously.

"The name's Bakura," he said proudly, stepping into the room. His smirk widened as the boy backtracked into the table behind him in fright. Was he really that scary? He'd never noticed. Bakura continued to advance on him, making Ryou's eyes widen even farther if that were possible. Bakura's smirk couldn't help but broaden.

"Afraid of me?" he questioned in a low gruff voice, watching pleasantly as Ryou visibly shuddered in front of him. Either from his voice or nearness, it didn't matter.

"N-no," Ryou whispered, definitely not sounding convincing enough for Bakura who chuckled, his hands grabbing a hold of the table on either side of Ryou, locking him in. The boy realized this and paled, his anxious eyes staring intently up at Bakura. From this position, Bakura realized how short he was. Not as short as Yami, but Bakura was pleased.

"Oh I don't know about that little Ryou," Bakura murmured huskily, his violet eyes glancing downwards at Ryou's mouth as it parted to gape at the larger man breathily.

"H-how do you know my n-name?" Ryou asked him with trembling lips and Bakura regained his arrogant grin.

"I've been watching you," Bakura answered matter of factly, watching Ryou become stunned all over again.

"Why?" he questioned, for the first time sounding confident in his voice. It sent sparks of heat down Bakura's body. He needed to hear it again.

"You're not much of a guard, are you?"

A dark flashed passed in Ryou's eyes and Bakura was riveted by it as his head leaned downwards towards the pink parted lips of the smaller boy in front of him, completely at his mercy. "W-what are you talking about?"

"Bakura!"

The white haired man growled and pushed himself away from Ryou regrettably, turning to look at Yami who was in the doorway giving him a look of disapproval. Like he needed his approval anyways.

"King Seto's back," Yami stated bluntly and Bakura along with Ryou straightened up at the announcement.

Play time would have to wait.

oO0Oo

"Oh Seto! I thought something might happen to you!" Kisara's wickedly sweet voice rung out throughout the parlor room and Joey stood beside his fiancé silently, before the white haired girl threw herself at Seto as the brunette barely had time to catch her. Yugi stood off to the side uncomfortably, his eyes adverting the scene before him.

Joey narrowed his eyes however, recognizing the woman from the night he'd left and not understanding why she was still there. Was she one of Seto's friends? For some reason, the blond would have thought that Seto's friends – if he had any – wouldn't be wearing outfits that exposed the top half of her breasts and too much thigh. Let alone be female.

"Why would something happen to me?" Seto asked, gently pulling her arms off of him. She stepped back with a glance in Joey and Yugi's direction, eyeing them both up for a moment before turning back to Seto as she grabbed his arm. Joey's eyes zeroed in on the action before looking at Seto's stoic face for a reaction. Of course, you could never read anything on the man's face.

"You just never know Seto," Kisara answered simply and Joey didn't like how she said it. Why would something happen to Seto in his country?

"I suppose you're right," Seto sighed while patting her hand, raising Joey's temper a little. Did he have to enable it? Finally the blue eyes looked over at Joey. "Have you met Prince Wheeler?"

Joey straightened up as Kisara too looked over at him, as if realizing she'd have to communicate with him. Oh it must be terrible, Joey thought bitterly.

"Actually no, I haven't," she said with a small shake of her head, a tiny barely noticeable smile gracing her features as she held her hand out in his direction. "I'm Princess Kisara of Cassius."

Joey has a flash vision of smacking her hand away and grabbing her by that long ass hair and throwing her out into the night, but he shook himself and forced himself to grab hold of her hand, his grip harsher than what it should have been.

"Prince Wheeler of Ghaffar and this is my friend Yugi Muto," he said while gesturing to his friend who shifted uneasily beside him. "I saw you a couple nights ago at one o'clock in the morning," Joey added suspiciously, as he still did not understand why she had just suddenly appeared that night.

Kisara held his gaze until she laughed in amusement. Joey didn't get the joke. "Oh yes! That's right. You were trying to escape Seto," she remarked back, passing it off as humorous but Joey wasn't ignorant to her cunning edge.

Joey refused to look reactant and so he took his hand back swiftly, wanting to get away from the woman as fast as possible. "I'm going to look for Mokuba," he stated roughly, "Come on Yugi." Joey then led the smaller boy up the stairs, feeling the burning gaze belonging to Seto on his back the whole time.

"So this is the Kaiba palace? It's… huge," Yugi commented freely after they were alone up stairs.

Joey snickered with a nod. "Right? It's like the only thing that could hold Kaiba's ego," which Yugi laughed at.

"Yeah, I get that," Yugi replied before thoughtfully asking, "Who do you think that girl is to Seto?"

Joey grimaced immediately with a shrug. "I don't know. She showed up as I was leaving…"

Yugi glanced casually over at his friend who was scratching the back of his head, a slight look of pain on his features. "Are you okay?"

Joey's eyes darted over to his friend distractedly before nodding, dropping his hand back to his side. "Yeah, I'm fine. Just a headache…" he muttered, not wanting to freak Yugi out by telling him about what had happened in the forest that morning.

Yugi seemed to believe him with a nod as Joey ultimately made it the game room, expecting Mokuba to be there. He suddenly felt nervous though, wondering if the young prince would be mad at him for leaving. He'd never liked the fact that Mokuba had become attached to him almost immediately of him coming here. It left room for hurt feelings and Joey hated to be the one to be the victor.

Opening the door, he frowned when he noticed the lights were off. Flipping the switch he looked around the room, with Yugi peering over the doorframe. "Mokuba?" Joey called out.

"I don't think he's in here Joey," Yugi murmured at his side and Joey nodded before retreating back to the hallway.

"Weird. I wonder where he is," Joey replied absently and a bit confused. Rolland then appeared out of a room and caught sight of them.

"Prince Wheeler!" he said with surprise, walking briskly towards him and Yugi. Apparently he hadn't been expecting him to return. And with someone else. But it didn't matter at the moment and he looked at Joey with fearful eyes. "I can't find Prince Mokuba."

Joey immediately felt dread at the words.

oO0Oo

Rolland, Yugi, and Joey split up to find him. Joey checked Mokuba's bedroom first, as it seemed like the most practical place for the smaller Kaiba boy to be. Nothing. School room. Nothing. He checked the game room again. Nothing. It was then that Joey was really panicking.

Seto had left Mokuba with that woman the whole time? Surely nothing bad had happened, right? There were plenty of people that worked around the palace that would have noticed if Kisara would have done something to Mokuba. But Rolland hadn't even been able to find him.

Who would do something to Mokuba? He was the sweetest little boy on the planet. He even had Seto Kaiba wrapped around his finger.

"I told you no already Kisara," Seto's irritated voice broke Joey's worried thoughts and he rushed towards the sound.

His sudden appearance back into the parlor room had both sets of blue eyes on him sharply. Joey ignored it, his heart racing uncontrollably. "Mokuba's missing," he said in a rush.

The look Seto gave him sent shudders down his back. There was no mistaking what the smaller boy meant to him.

Seto advanced on Joey, grabbing him by the shoulders and staring hard into the blond's eyes. "You checked everywhere?" he asked roughly, his silver flashing over his irises.

"Everywhere that I could enter," Joey stated quickly, sharing the feeling with Seto at that moment. Something clicked into Seto's head and he released Joey to rush up the stairs.

Literally, Joey had never seen him move so quickly and gracefully.

Joey dashed after him, hearing small clicks behind him that told him Kisara was following. He tried to focus on finding Mokuba than dealing with that aggravating woman. Joey wasn't sure where Seto was running to, but he recognized it when they came to a stop in front of large familiar doors.

The garden.

Joey and Kisara both watched Seto take the necklace he wore under his coat out and pressed it to a pad on the door, before watching as the doors slid open fleetingly. Seto was inside before Joey could fathom it.

Deep blue eyes darted around the garden, before falling on a heap of dark hair. Seto was at Mokuba's side in a flash, Joey and Kisara hot on his heels. Touching the boy's shoulder, Seto prayed that the boy was okay. Stormy gray eyes opening tentatively had him breathing in a sigh of relief, grasping the boy into his arms quickly. "What are you doing in here?" Seto's emotional jagged voice murmured.

"Seto!" Mokuba's breathless voice gasped into his shoulder, holding his older brother tightly. "You're home! I missed you." Seto's hands ran over his unruly mess of black hair as Mokuba looked over his brother's shoulder to Kisara and then to Joey. Eyes lighting up even brighter, Mokuba let go of Seto to throw himself into Joey's unexpected arms. "Joey! You're back! I knew Seto would bring you back! I just knew it!"

Seto stood up, gazing down at his brother hugging his fiancé. Joey looked stunned and a little relieved. Had he been worried Mokuba wouldn't accept him back? Seto crossed his arms over his chest uneasily. Joey did care how Mokuba felt. He wasn't that selfish.

"Yeah bud, I'm back," Joey said happily, clutching the boy to him. "I couldn't stay away too long. Someone has to kick your butt at racing."

Mokuba laughed and pulled away with an enthusiastic grin. "In your dreams!"

"Have you been hiding in here the whole time?" Kisara rudely interrupted, her eyes scattered around the garden as she hadn't seen it before. Ha! Joey thought. I have!

Mokuba's smile faltered, glancing at Seto uncomfortably. "I… I just missed you big brother."

Joey knew that there was something else going on and he wanted to know what. However, before he could say anything over the matter, Mokuba perked up again. "I'm starving! Let's have dinner to celebrate!"

Seto too felt like this was odd, but he didn't want to upset his younger brother so he smiled strainfully. "Okay Mokuba… go tell Rolland that we are ready for dinner. I'm sure he's been worried about you."

Mokuba looked up at his brother guiltily before rushing out of the room. Now alone with Kisara and Seto, Joey glanced at them uncomfortably before locking eyes with his fiancé. The fact that they had both been terrified about Mokuba's disappearance seemed to set in. And Joey looked away with a small blush.

"I'm gonna go find Yugi," Joey muttered before turning on his heel and leaving them.

oO0Oo

Yugi'd had no idea who Mokuba was or what he even looked like, but Rolland had informed him that he was the younger brother of Seto. He hadn't even known Seto had a brother. However the fact that he had gone missing had even sparked fear inside Yugi. It was obvious by Joey's reaction that the blond cared for the boy and so Yugi took it upon himself to help.

Nonetheless, it didn't take Yugi long to realize he was lost in the gigantic palace. He couldn't hear Joey or Rolland's worried calls for Mokuba anymore and he wondered if they had found him or if he was just really that lost. He was on the bottom floor of the palace, he knew that because he'd went down a flight of stairs. Looking around, he realized he was in some kind of sitting room. Perhaps if he just stayed there then Joey would come looking for him and find him.

Yugi sighed and looked around the room curiously while he waited for Joey. There was a large painting of Seto with a small black haired boy above an immaculate marble fireplace. Yugi peered up at it, assuming that this boy was Mokuba and the corners of his lips turned upwards. The smaller boy was the exact opposite of Seto, it seemed. The large grin on his face was evident enough.

Stroking the marble mantle, Yugi couldn't help but realize that he was a long ways from home. His grandfather had been more happy for him that he was leaving than he was, when they had stopped by his house to inform him.

"This is your adventure Yugi!" he had stated. Yugi shook his head at his Grampa with small amusement.

"Are you authorized to be in here?" a dark voice spoke from behind him and Yugi practically jumped out his skin at the sound with a yelp.

Turning around, Yugi stared at a man in the doorway and immediately was swept away by his appearance. Their hair was similar which was odd in itself since he'd never seen anyone else with this sort of hair. He was tanned nicely, contrasting his pointed crimson eyes and sharp features. Even from across the room Yugi could tell he was short, but still taller than himself. It was enough to mesmerize him and send his heart racing.

"I… no – Joey – Mok – sorry!" Yugi blurted out incoherently from embarrassment, shock, and fright.

The man stepped into the room, making Yugi back away immediately. The man stopped advancing when he realized he was scaring Yugi and then he… smiled? What the heck was he smiling for?

"Who are you?" the man questioned and Yugi heard the authority in his voice along with kindred amusement, it made Yugi blush harder.

"Y-yugi. I-I'm from Ghaffar – I-I came with J-joey," Yugi defended himself pathetically. "I mean, P-prince Wheeler!" he added as an afterthought.

"Really?" the man asked with a quirk of his eyebrow. "How can I believe you?"

Yugi's eyes widened. Did he not believe him? "I'm t-telling the truth! Honest!"

The man smirked and Yugi's fear soon turned into slight irritation. The man approached him again and Yugi's fear returned quickly as he took another step backwards away. This time the man didn't stop and Yugi's back was pressed against the wall before he knew what was happening.

"Then why are you in here… Yugi?" the man asked curiously and Yugi absently shuddered at the sound of his name being released from that dark voice.

"I… well, I was helping Joey find… Mokuba," he tried to explain, but it came out sounding a lot like a whisper. But the man heard and his behavior swiftly changed.

"Mokuba? Why were you looking for him? Is he missing?" the man asked, becoming professional all of a sudden and sounding a bit worried as well.

Yugi swallowed harshly but felt relieved when the atmosphere altered. "Yes. I got lost though…"

The man eyed Yugi for a moment before sighing. "I'll believe you, but you must come with me to find King Seto. Got me?"

Yugi nodded immediately but refused to leave the wall. The man stared at him, before rolling his eyes. "Are you coming or am I not going to believe you? Because in that case, I will have to arrest you for trespassing and breaking into the King's palace."

Yugi blushed profusely and stumbled off the wall, rushing out the door before the man could even turn around. It was only then that he chuckled before following the small boy out of the room.

oO0Oo

"Damn palace. Why do you have to be so fuckin' big?" Joey muttered under his breath as he descended down the large stairwell into the parlor, but then saw Yugi, with another man who looked very similar to his small friend, enter from the sitting room.

"Yugi?" he called, quickening his steps towards the boy who looked up with relief when he saw his blond friend. The other man eyed both of them curiously.

"I found him wondering the sitting room, apparently lost," he explained before locking eyes with Joey. "Did you find Mokuba?"

Joey nodded hastily. "Yes, thank god. He was in the garden… um, sorry but who are you?"

The man bowed slightly and Joey felt awkward, not really liking it when people bowed to him. "I'm Yami, King Seto's head guard. We seemed to have not met before as King Seto informed me and my partner to not enter the palace during your stay."

Joey frowned in disapproval. "Why would he do that?"

Yami suddenly looked slightly uncomfortable. "He wanted you… to himself. Without distractions."

Joey didn't like that answer and his anger with the brunette fired up once more. "Well, he can go f"—

"What was that Wheeler?" a snide voice from behind him catching him off guard. Joey spun around with a red faced glower, turning it even more ferocious at the sight of Kisara hanging off of his arm.

"King Seto… You've returned," Yami diffused the situation as Seto and Kisara approached them all. Seto eyed his guard then glanced to Yugi, feeling strange as he saw them side by side. They looked so similar it was weird.

"Yes," Seto stated, attempting to wrench himself free from Kisara's binding grip. "Obviously. And… despite my brother going M.I.A., how was everything while I was gone?" he asked pointedly, his eyes glancing to the woman beside him.

Yami refrained from glancing in her direction to keep her out of the loop. "Everything seemed to be fine, your majesty. Unfortunately I was unaware of Prince Mokuba's disappearance, as he had informed me that he would be in his bedroom studying."

Seto held back a snort and Joey tried not to snicker. Mokuba never studied. That was a bold faced lie.

"Interesting," Seto murmured before Rolland entered the room.

"Dinner is served," the older man announced.

"I'll just be going then," Yami muttered, before bowing low. Seto nodded to him before the man left the palace and the brunette eyed the three in front of him. He probably would have invited Yami to join them, but he was feeling like there were entirely too many people in his palace. If he had it his way, Joey and Mokuba would be the only ones there. Maybe Rolland too.

"I need to speak with Prince Wheeler," Seto grounded out, and when Kisara and Yugi both still stood there Seto rolled his eyes. "Alone."

Kisara stiffened unbeknownst to the brunette before spinning on her heel and leaving for the dining room. Yugi looked to Joey warily, not knowing if he trusted them alone together. Joey tore his eyes off of Seto to attempt to give Yugi a reassured look.

"I'll be fine, Yug'," Joey replied quietly and Yugi nodded, still not wanting to leave his side. But he did anyways, giving Seto a glance before disappearing into the dining room as well.

Now alone, Joey crossed his arms over his chest and adverted his narrowed eyes from the brunette. "Whatever you want to talk about, I'm not interested. I'm here because I have to be, that's it."

Seto stifled his irritation and stuffed his hands into his coat pockets as he viewed the blond in front of him. A sudden flash of him kissing that guard of his roamed behind his eyes and he almost snarled at the reminder. "So you're in love with that guard." It wasn't a question but Joey stiffened visibly.

"That's none of your business," Joey snapped, his brown eyes flashing at the taller man in front of him.

The defensive remark answered Seto's unasked question and he glared at the blond. "I'll take that as a yes."

Joey fumed then. "So what if it is?! You can't control who I"—Joey was against the wall with Seto pressing against him so fast that he had missed him advancing on him with just a blink of his angry eyes.

"You are mine," Seto seethed at Joey, a little over a whisper. A dangerous, whisper. Joey's heart was erratically racing against his chest, his breathing heightening. Seto's face was so close to his that he could feel his hot breath against his cheeks. And he didn't like the way Seto had said that. "You will be my husband and you will not be in love with anyone else. Do you understand that?"

"I can love whoever I want," Joey defiantly defended, if not a bit breathless. Seto's blue eyes flashed silver and slid into narrowed slits. "It shouldn't even matter anyways. I can't be with him." Joey enforced the last word with an attempt to move Seto off of him. But Seto grabbed his hands and held them on either side of his face against the wall.

"You're not allowed to love anyone else Wheeler, get it through your thick dumb head," Seto growled and Joey almost spat at him but somehow he found the strength not to. He hated how forceful this man was.

"I don't understand what the big deal is asshole! I'm never gonna love you so why does it matter?"

Seto faltered and Joey saw that his eyes changed but he didn't understand what it had changed to. Maybe… confusion? "I… I'll never love you either," Seto stated firmly, before releasing his hold and moving away from Joey.

The blond straightened himself out and stared at Seto oddly. What was…

"Seto! You coming? The cooks made your favorites!" Mokuba's cheerful voice broke the tension between the two boys.

Joey said nothing and pushed past Seto swiftly, getting away from him as fast as he could. Seto closed his eyes and breathed through his nose, trying to compose himself before turning around to face his younger brother.

Mokuba took in the sight of his brother's attempted controlled face and immediately knew something was wrong. "Are you okay?" he asked with worry and Seto took a deep breath.

"I'm fine Mokuba. Tell me," Seto said as he stepped to his younger brother. "Why were you in the garden the whole time and why did you lie to Yami?"

Mokuba's stormy gray eyes changed and he looked away, telling Seto without speaking that there was something else going on. "I… I was hiding from Kisara. She shouldn't be here, Seto. She's trying to ruin what you have with Joey!" he said emotionally, looking back up at his brother.

Seto frowned down at his brother. Of course he knew that Kisara wanted to be with him instead of him being with Joey but that didn't make sense as to why Mokuba felt like he needed to hide from her. "But why did you hide?"

"B-because! Because she told me that she'd get rid of me if I tried to stop her!" Mokuba blurted, his eyes filling with tears and Seto froze at the declaration.

Kisara was devious but she wasn't that devious. He known her from a young age, had grown up with her. She would never do anything to Mokuba. If she really wanted to be with him then she should be smart enough to not mess with what was his and who he cared for.

"Mokuba, I'm sure she was just overreacting," Seto denied and Mokuba stared up at his brother with wide eyes.

"You… don't believe me?" he choked out, not understanding. Seto wasn't even able to say anything more before Mokuba rushed up the stairs in tears.

Seto pinched the bridge of his nose wearily. For someone who was supposed to get his way with everything, everything sure wasn't going his way lately.


	9. She Ain't Got A Thing On Me

She Ain't Got A Thing On Me

Joey hated Kisara; and that was saying something because he had thought at one point the only person he really hated was Seto Kaiba. He wasn't sure when it had changed but he knew that he definitely didn't loathe the man as much as he had in the past. The fact that they had come to some sort of agreement (both of them making it clear that they would never love each other) seemed to have dimmed the hatred down to a mutual tolerance of each other. Kind of.

They could be in the same room without glowering at each other, if that gave anyone any indication.

However, it still seemed to be difficult because Kisara was always there. Why hadn't she left already? And the way Seto accepted her like it was nothing was… well infuriating. He had tried to ask the man multiple times in the next few days but Seto always had the same impassive answer.

"She's a friend."

Well if she was a friend, then why was she hanging off of you like some kind of koala bear? Was Joey's immediate thought upon hear this. It really shouldn't have mattered to Joey that Seto was allowing some female friend to behave intimately around him, but the fact still stood that Joey apparently wasn't allowed to be in love with Duke and yet Seto could do anything he wanted. He was pretty close to confronting the King of Pious about it but something kept holding him back. What if Seto was speaking the truth? What if… they really were just friends and any assumption of them being more than that would make Joey humiliated?

It was frustrating to Joey to say the least.

On a much happier and friendlier note, Yugi seemed to be fitting in well in the palace. Joey could admit that he was overly relieved that he was no longer alone in this situation. Mokuba had taken a liking to Yugi straightaway as well, making it easy to relax and play a fair amount of games that they all enjoyed immensely. It was times like those that Joey was away from the irritation that being around Kisara and Seto inflicted upon him. (And he was without a doubt positive that Kisara did that on purpose.)

Also, Seto's guards: Bakura and Yami seemed to be hanging around more often. Apparently they were allowed to do so now that things were a bit different between Seto and himself. Yami was nice enough, the few times he'd been near him, but he unquestionably didn't appreciate the full out staring contests he had with his smaller friend Yugi. Joey had a suspicion that Yami was thinking inappropriate things about the newcomer and Joey would be keeping an eye on him at all times. No one would be taking advantage of his best friend. And that meant no one.

Bakura on the other hand sort of gave Joey a bad impression. He was strange, if that could even be the right word to describe him to say the least. He was tall, bulky, and full of muscle and the large scar running down his tanned face was disturbing to Joey. His snarky, and bizarre sense of humor was a bit off balance too. There was no mistaking the fact that he was friends with the King. Joey was sure that they hit it off swimmingly when they had the chance. Both seemed to take joy in other's sufferings.

The bastards.

"Hey Joey? Can I come in?"

A small voice from his doorway broke his thoughts and he sat up on his bed to look at Mokuba's hopeful face peering around the door. A smile lit up Joey's features in response. "Sure thing, bud."

Mokuba looked relieved and happily came into the room, closing the door behind him, before jumping onto the bed in front of Joey. The blond made some room for him, as his long legs did take up a lot of space. Mokuba didn't say anything immediately and Joey looked up at him to see an uneasy expression on the boy's face. His eyebrows furrowed and his stormy gray eyes were downcast on the distressed covers on Joey's bed.

"What's up Mokuba?" Joey asked casually, trying to lighten up the boy's obvious sour mood. "Yugi beat you at that Duel Monsters game again?"

"It's Kisara," Mokuba muttered quietly, breaking the lighthearted joke that Joey had attempted with. The smile fell from Joey's face immediately and he looked at the younger Kaiba seriously.

"What about her?" he asked, trying not to look too suspicious when it came to talking about that wench.

Mokuba exhaled a baited breath but didn't look up at Joey, making the blond frown even more. "Haven't you noticed her behavior?"

Joey stared at the boy. Of course he'd noticed! Who hadn't? "I… don't know what you mean, Mokuba," the blond feigned innocence instead to see what he had to say. Maybe there was something else going on that Joey hadn't seen?

Mokuba groaned with frustration, taking Joey slightly off guard at the troubling outburst. "She's trying to ruin everything!" he said through gritted teeth and grabbed his long messy hair before looking up at Joey with almost teary eyes. "She is only here to make you go away so she can have Seto to herself! S-she wants our country!"

Joey froze at the kid's words, his eyes sliding off the boy's face to stare at the wall behind him as he mulled over it. So Kisara was doing it on purpose. He'd had an inkling, but he hadn't wanted to make too many assumptions in case it made things worse for himself. However now that Mokuba knew and understood, maybe it could work to his favor?

"Did you tell your brother this?" Joey asked Mokuba, his eyes snapping back to Mokuba's upset face as he nodded and tore his eyes off of the blond as he then turned angry.

"Yes," Mokuba snapped, which was weird to Joey because he didn't think he'd heard Mokuba sound so mad before. He was usually happy and free-spirited. "Seto didn't believe me. H-he doesn't think she'd go to drastic measures to see to it that her plan succeeds."

Joey's frown deepened even further at that. "What kind of drastic measures are we talking about Mokuba?" A part of him didn't want to know, however.

Mokuba visibly swallowed and he wiped at his nose before huffing. "She threatened to get rid of me if I tried to stop her and I tried telling Seto that but he didn't think she'd do it. He's – I don't know! He's believing her over me!"

Joey wanted to think that Kisara wouldn't do that, not if she was trying to make Seto leave Joey for her. But the fact still remained that Kisara did seem the type to become crazy at any given moment and if someone, no matter if it was Mokuba or not, tried to sabotage her plans it wouldn't end well for them. But that was just going on the impression she gave to him.

"She's not going to do anything to you Mokuba, I'll make sure of that," Joey stated, his voice suddenly turning fierce. "I need you to explain something though. How good of friends are Kisara and Seto?"

Once again, Joey wasn't sure if he wanted to know the answer but if curiosity killed the cat then that'd be one deceased feline.

Mokuba took a breath to calm himself down from his almost breakdown, and crossed his legs in front of him, placing his hands on his knees. His gray eyes met Joey's. "Well… our step-father and her father were close. Both had the same ideas for power and whatever. Kisara and Seto were both the eldest and heirs to the throne, not to mention the same age. Both were smart and quick thinkers. Our fathers boasted about them all the time, it was annoying. I could tell that Seto got annoyed with it too but he didn't say anything. They were pushed on each other and were forced to spend a lot of time together. I was never allowed to be around them when Kisara came over so I don't know what went on.

All I know is that when they got older, they became pretty close. Kisara touched Seto in ways that I'd never seen him let someone do before. At first I thought it was because he was trying to put on an act around our step-father, but after a while I realized that it was because he wanted to allow it. They'd dance with each other at balls and everyone would practically drool over them. I even came to wonder if it was because they liked each other, like really liked each other. But every time I'd bring it up, Seto would tell me that it wasn't like that. And I believed him. To a degree. It wasn't until last Christmas that I saw Kisara for who she really was…" Mokuba let out a breath and looked down at his hands on his knees.

Joey sat still, waiting for him to continue. The irritating feeling that always geared its ugly head whenever Kisara was around or mentioned was just about to its boiling point. It was sickening to hear that Seto could like this foul creature that prided herself with pretty hair and shiny eyes.

"There were a couple of rowdy boys there that wouldn't stop bugging me and so I tried to get away from them by standing by our step-father, but he didn't want me around. Just sneered down at me and told me to go fetch him a glass of wine. So I went to find Seto. He always made me feel better and would tell anyone who bullied me to go away. At first I couldn't find him, but then I saw Kisara leading him up the stairs. I called after them but Kisara wouldn't let Seto turn around. She kept whispering things into his ear and he ended up following her. I ran after them, but Kisara ended up kicking me with her heel behind Seto's back and I fell down the stairs. When I looked up to see if Seto had seen, she had already disappeared with him on the second floor. It was horrible…"

The sad and disappointed look on Mokuba's face had Joey wanting to kick Seto and Kisara down the stairs. Maybe twice. Joey licked his suddenly dry lips and grabbed Mokuba's arm to try to comfort him. The boy seemed to relax a little at the touch which the blond was grateful for. "Did you try telling Seto after Kisara had left?"

Mokuba shook his head as he sniffed, again trying to keep himself from crying. It was obvious what Seto meant to the boy. If their own father didn't want anything to do with Mokuba, then Seto would have been the only person that cared about him. It must have been hard to see the only person who was supposed to care for you disappoint you like that.

"I was going to but he ended up getting busy with King stuff so I didn't see him much… then, our step-father died. By that time, it just didn't seem right to say anything. So I tried to forget about it. But then she shows back up again," Mokuba bit off the last word as if it was a dirty taste. Mokuba suddenly grabbed Joey's hands that were on his arms, piercing Joey with his eyes that now resembled his brothers' – despite the color difference – and the blond widened his eyes a little. "We have to get her out of here Joey!"

Joey's lips parted in surprise and gulped before shrugging slightly, still in Mokuba's hold. "I don't know what I can do Mokuba! You're brother and I aren't exactly buddies."

Mokuba groaned with frustration, releasing Joey and standing up to pace. Joey just observed the boy silently, never seeing him behave this way in the time that he'd known him. "I know that! I'm no fool Joey. I can tell you aren't in love with each other. I just thought that because you two are going to be getting married that maybe you'd be able to have a bit of leeway with Seto! You obviously mean more to him than just a rival if he went all the way back to Ghaffar to bring you back here. Despite Kisara's intentions he still seems to be wanting to marry you with his original plans! You could, I don't know, romance him a little or something! Get him to kick her out instead of the other way around. Because if you continue to act like you hate him, he's not going to stick to his plans for too long. He might be stubborn but he's not patient by all means."

Understatement, Joey thought grimly but stared at Mokuba with a bit of horror. What the boy was asking him to do was something that the blond would never do, or ever want to do. To woo Seto would be against everything he'd built around the guy: his hatred, resentment, and anything else that made him angry! He'd have to push that aside in order to proceed with Mokuba's plan. He'd have to… pretend to like the guy. He almost shuddered at the thought, but stifled it.

Nonetheless, Mokuba had a point. If Kisara continued to snag her claws into Seto further, Joey would be thrown out soon – along with his bad attitude. And even though that didn't seem like too bad of an idea to let happen (because god knows that he didn't want to marry the guy), he didn't want Mokuba to have to live with that poor excuse of a woman. Anyone who would kick a child down a large flight of stairs to do whatever (repulsing) things to his brother, had to be more than just a little evil. And to threaten to get rid of him?

It was enough to make Joey snap out of his revulsions of the idea and get angry enough to be willing. "You're right Mokuba. I have to make sure that he doesn't choose Kisara," Joey declared, straightening his shoulders out, even though he didn't feel comfortable with what the plan would entail.

Mokuba stopped pacing and gave Joey the brightest grin he'd ever seen on the boy. Suddenly, his short arms were around Joey's waist and the blond was momentarily taken off guard. "Thank you so much Joey," Mokuba mumbled into Joey's tee-shirt. "You're going to be a great big brother."

Joey's heart melted at that confession and he patted the boy's back affectionately, suddenly missing Serenity more than he had in a while. He needed to remember to make a call to her and tell her that he loved her and thought about her. She probably was upset that he was gone again. In the meantime, he had an obligation to the boy hugging him. And he needed to avenge the bullying that this princess had inflicted on him. He just hoped that this plan worked.

oO0Oo

Seto sat in his sitting room, his blue eyes darting towards the doorway in paranoia. It seemed in the past few days that he'd returned back to his home that Kisara had decided to be attached to his hip. It was annoying and he was proud of himself that he hadn't lost his temper with her. He secretly wished that she'd find her way to the door without him kicking her out, but that didn't seem to be happening any time soon. Thankfully, this was a moment of peace – to a certain extent – without her there breathing down his neck.

At least she wasn't degrading Joey anymore. He'd promptly demanded of her to stop bringing the blond up in his presence. His decision would not be changing and no amount of insults was going to alter that. Leaning back in his chair, he closed his eyes as he rested the back of his head against the head of his chair. Silence. It was something that he hadn't been able to relax in quite some time. With Kisara doing whatever the hell she was doing, his King duties, KC work, and of course the amount of people staying and appearing in his palace from time to time, it was burdening him to endure it. He'd be grateful when they all would decide to leave him alone.

The only reason he was even putting up with Kisara at this point, was that he wanted to make sure she wasn't up to anything suspicious. She had been very passionate about her views over his engagement and despite what he'd told Mokuba, he was still quite wary of her. Of course, he still held true that he was certain she wouldn't harm his younger brother. She'd have to be more stupid than he'd originally thought if she ultimately did. No, it didn't seem right. Kisara was cunning and clever enough to attempt to get her way without drastically hurting someone. Too bad he was even more clever and cunning.

He was Seto Kaiba, after all.

Joey seemed to be calming down more so than he'd been anticipating, too. He assumed it was because of his friend Yugi being there, as his attentions were now elsewhere and didn't have to be so focused on making Seto infuriated with him. However, Seto realized that this didn't please him as much as he'd thought it would a few weeks back. In fact, it irritated him greatly.

Joey didn't glare at him all the time, that bright red flush that appeared on his cheeks when angry seemed to have been forgotten as well, and Joey gave off the impression that he was attempting to control himself around Seto instead of antagonize him. Which in all honesty, Seto did appreciate because it could get pretty tiresome but the constant bickering amongst them did amuse him and kept him stimulated to a point. He'd even tried to annoy the blond with snide remarks and had only been met with a shrug or a casual answer that had him seething in his own seat.

It wasn't until yesterday that he realized just how to get Joey angry again. It was no longer Seto that irritated the blond. No, it was Kisara. Something inside of Seto was pleased with that revelation. Every time the girl would latch herself to him, Joey balled up his fists and stomped from the room abruptly. It was simply gratifying after the impassiveness that the blond had been towards Seto before. So he supposed that was another reason why he was keeping Kisara around, he mused with hilarity.

"Sleeping on the job, your majesty?"

Seto almost groaned aloud at the maniacal voice of Bakura. If it wasn't Kisara, it was Yami. If it wasn't Yami, it was Bakura. No one could leave him alone these days. He was almost missing the days that Joey had emphasized to sabotage their engagement. At least then he hadn't been barged in on when he was trying to sink into his own thoughts. Joey hadn't wanted to be around him unless he had to. So yes, he missed that quite a lot.

"Fuck off Bakura," Seto immediately let slip while opening his eyes to see the wicked amusement flash over the white haired guard's face.

"Someone's in a bad mood. Not getting laid?" Bakura taunted as he sat down across from the King with a smirk. "I'd of thought that it wouldn't be an issue with your fiancé running around now and that dreadful princess here too. I mean, wow man, you're living the life."

Sadly, Seto didn't see the enjoyment of the situation. "Don't you have someone else to annoy? Like that small guard in the barn out back?" he retorted and watched with satisfied pleasure at the dropping of the smirk entirely on Bakura's face.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Bakura denied stubbornly with a growl-like response, his arms crossing over his broad chest while his light eyes slid to the window to their side.

Seto quirked an eyebrow while crossing his legs gracefully. "Funny, I'd say that was a lie since Yami informed me a couple days ago that he was worried you were getting too attached to Princess Kisara's guard," he replied sarcastically with a wide smirk.

A real growl erupted from the gruff guard and he flashed a glare at Seto. "Yami doesn't know when to keep his mouth shut and his nose out of others' business," he snarled angrily, which only intensified Seto's leer more.

"It doesn't matter, Bakura," Seto suddenly said before sighing. "I just take pleasure in seeing you angry." Bakura glowered at the King. "Besides, I've seen him around. He's the most pathetic excuse of a guard in history and that's saying something, as I've seen pretty shitty guards." Including and specifically that black haired, green eyed snake that Joey had been kissing.

Bakura leaned back into the chair he was seated in, relaxing into it when he didn't feel threatened anymore. "I agree," he said thoughtfully, before shrugging. "In fact, I'd say that he isn't a guard at all."

Seto eyed his guard and friend curiously. "What makes you say that?"

Bakura shrugged again. "He's weak and" –

Bakura's explanation was abruptly cut off when the sight of a certain blond haired boy appeared in the room looking nothing like he had at breakfast. At Bakura's sudden drop of his sentence and the way he was staring away from him with a slight gape, had Seto turning in his seat to see what was wrong.

It was then that Seto's heart immediately sped up, his stomach did a weird flop, and his throat became dry as if he hadn't had a drink in days. It was needless to say that Seto had never had this reaction before, to anyone (And he'd never admit it) and so the fact that he was gawking at Prince Wheeler was enough to raise suspicion in how Joey affected him.

Joey stood there, feeling quite uncomfortable in a white button shirt that was sloppily buttoned, exposing the lower part of his toned abdomen, and light blue boxers. His hair was tousled and his brown eyes were staring back at Seto intently, as if gauging for a reaction. Seto's eyes slid down the boy's frame slowly, recognizing the clothing to be his own. The fact that Joey was wearing his own clothing made the possessive side of Seto practically growl with pleasure. The sane side of Seto was wondering why the hell he was wearing them and what gave him the right.

When Seto's eyes returned to Joey's face, he saw the bright blush on his cheeks and his eyes adverting to the wall behind the brunette. A small barely notable smirk flitted over Seto's face before composing himself.

Bakura's sudden howl of laughter broke the spell and Joey immediately glared directly at the white haired man with disdain. Seto too scowled in his guard's direction before addressing the barely dressed boy.

"What are you doing in my clothing, Wheeler?" Seto asked with distaste lingering on his words and ignoring Bakura's insistent snickers. Joey's glare snapped to him, the first glare he'd received in days before it disappeared almost instantly.

"I… don't have many clothing of my own and I needed to take a shower. All my clothes I do have are dirty. Thought you wouldn't mind, ya know, 'cause we'll be getting married and all that," Joey explained uncomfortably as his eyes locked onto Seto's penetrating ones. "My water's freezin' though in my bathroom, it won't warm up. Can ya help me?"

Seto suddenly stared at Joey like he was the most ridiculous person in the world, and it could possibly have been the truth at that moment. Bakura's sniggers in the background didn't help. Was Joey being serious?

"Why didn't you ask Rolland or some other person to a) wash your clothes for you and b) fix the water? I'm the King, Wheeler. I don't do maintenance work," he replied snidely and Joey sighed, almost exasperatedly making Seto's eyebrow quirk upwards.

"I thought you'd say that, but Rolland's out with Mokuba and the repair guys are all out back fixin' the leak on the swimming pool. So… I need your help. It's your palace, isn't it?" Joey asked in the most innoecent sounding voice Seto had ever heard come out of his mouth.

Frowning, Seto crossed his arms. "And where did Mokuba have Rolland take him?"

Joey smiled, as if thinking about the small boy. "I believe he said he was going to Kaiba Land, since he's been workin' so hard on his school work. Yugi wanted to go with him since he's never been."

Seto sighed with annoyance but couldn't take his eyes off of the blond in front of him. In fact, his eyes seemed to have a mind of their own as they slid back down the boy's body to his tanned slightly hairy legs that were exposed to him from below his boxers. His jaw absently clenched up when he saw a slight prominence between the blond's legs under the blue cotton cloth. Oh god, what the hell was wrong with him.

"I… Bakura?" Seto managed out, looking at his guard in question. What were guards for anyways? Guard me from the unwanted reactions I'm getting from seeing him this way.

Bakura laughed darkly before standing up. "Oh no, your majesty. You're on your own with this one. I fight people, I don't fix showers." Before Seto could command to do it anyways, Bakura had scurried out of the room pass Joey.

His eyes returned to the blond's hopeful smile and he narrowed his eyes at it suspiciously. He didn't trust Joey at all, not after the way he's been acting towards him. But what else could he do?

Sighing with irritation, he stood up from his chair and glowered at the blond. "Fine. It's not like I'm allowed to have peace and quiet anyways," he muttered grumpily but Joey was already grinning.

"Thanks! I owe you one!" Joey said a bit too cheerfully, before leading him out of the sitting room towards the large staircase. Seto's eyes trained on the boy's back silently, but soon lowered down to Joey's behind.

I'm not gay.

When they reached Joey's bathroom, Seto wanted to throw himself out the window because of the fact that he'd agreed to do this. He of course knew how to repair a shower, as he'd read too many books to count because of his love of knowledge, but that didn't mean that menial jobs like this was something that he preferred. Without looking behind him where he knew Joey stood watching, he took off his coat and sat it on the closed toilet seat before pushing up the sleeves of a white shirt that mirrored the one Joey had on. (Although his was neatly buttoned and pressed.)

Holding back another sigh, Seto turned the hot water on and waited the amount of time that he assumed would be enough for it to have warmed itself up. He slid his hand under the water to test it to find it indeed, cold. Frowning, because he now believed Joey's heinous story, Seto turned the water off.

"The water heater's probably lowered or something, I'll have to get one of the workers to fix it whenever they get back from maintaining the pool leak," Seto explained before standing back up and looking over at Joey, but he immediately regretted it.

The blond had taken off his shirt? Why? And why did his chest look so damn muscular and golden? There was even a slight bit of blond chest hair across his pectorals. Seto had to swallow the large lump in his throat that was forming.

I'm not gay.

"Okay, sounds good. Guess I'll just wait then," Joey said with a nod, leaning up against the doorframe with his arms crossing over his broad shouldered chest, his lips curving upwards into an appreciative smile.

"O-okay," Seto managed to say, without really hearing his words over the echoing mantra he was reprimanding himself with.

I'm not gay. I'm not gay. Stop looking at his chest. I'm not gay.

oO0Oo

Joey's heart was beating radically fast in his chest, despite the cool exterior he was allowing Seto to see. He couldn't believe that this had worked so quickly. Seto's reaction to him being in his clothes had been amusing, but now that he had taken off the shirt in order to see how he'd respond, well it was surprising and a little exhilarating. The piercing blue eyes of steel that had always either angered him or intimidated him were sliding over his body and sending warm tingles down his body. It was enough to make his own mouth go dry.

It was beginning to feel awkward though and Joey shifted under the brunette's gaze. "Okay, uh thanks anyways," Joey said before offering another quick smile and pushing himself off of the doorframe to wonder back into his bedroom, leaving Seto back in the bathroom. Throwing himself onto his bed, he let himself exhale a breath of relief and his wide brown eyes stared up at the ceiling.

What the hell was the matter with him? In order for this to work he was going to need to keep himself in check, for Mokuba's sake. And of course the fact that his father's pressure of their countries uniting did go hand in hand with his obligation. It would disappoint a whole lot of people if this didn't succeed.

Finally Seto emerged from his bathroom, and Joey turned his head to the side to see the brunette looking a bit more under control than he had a few moments prior. Seto avoided looking at Joey all together and strode through the room swiftly and was out of sight in a heartbeat. Joey then heard a slam of the door next to his own, meaning he'd went into his own bedroom. It was then that Joey let out a fit of laughter. He wasn't sure what he was laughing at, but he was certain it had to do with the relief he felt that it had actually worked.

After his laughs subsided, Joey stood off the bed with a grin and made sure his door was closed all the way before grabbing the phone on his night stand. Punching in numbers, his grin widened at Rolland's answer.

"You can tell Mokuba that "Plan One" has succeeded!" Joey declared happily, as he was still in disbelief with it all.

"Right I will, Prince Wheeler," Rolland replied, equally as happy as Mokuba and Joey had informed him and Yugi of their plans to kick Kisara out. Apparently Rolland despised the girl just as much as they did. "And I'll have the maintenance workers turn up the water heater back up to its normal temperature. Job well done, your highness."

Joey beamed at the praise before hanging up the phone to walk back into his bathroom to take a warm shower, or perhaps a cold one would suffice after what he'd just been through. He paused as he took Seto's boxers off, spotting the King's coat still lying on his toilet seat. Seto must have been so taken off guard that he had forgotten to collect it.

He then came up with a brilliant idea. A wicked grin spread over Joey's face before tearing the boxers off and hopping into the shower. The hot water was up and running again and Joey melted with plans swarming in his head. Perhaps romancing Seto wouldn't be as difficult as he had once thought. Scheming seemed to come very natural to Joey and by the brunette's reaction enough… well, Joey knew what he had to do.

"Plan Two" would soon be in effect.

oO0Oo

When dinner came around, the three who had ventured off to Kaiba Land had returned and were seated around the table – except Rolland of course – along with Kisara and Seto. Since Joey's return, Kisara had been made to sit elsewhere as the chair she'd previously occupied had been deemed Joey's. Seto was still sticking to that, as Joey was ultimately his fiancé and soon would be his fellow King once they were married. It seemed fitting that Joey would be seated alongside him, with his younger brother on his other side.

And speaking of his brother, Seto wasn't sure if it was because he'd enjoyed himself with Yugi and Rolland at Kaiba Land or if it was because something else had made him incessantly happy, but Mokuba's behavior could be considered cheerful compared to how he'd been acting ever since Seto had told Mokuba he didn't believe that Kisara would harm him. Seto had felt guilty that he'd upset his brother so bad, but the brunette wasn't going to lie to him so he felt better about the situation. So Seto was thankful for whatever had lightened his mood, whatever it was.

Despite that, Seto was still quite unnerved by how he had been reacting towards Joey that afternoon. After a cold shower, that surprisingly had heated up all on its own a few seconds after he had stepped in, he still felt disturbed by it all. He should not, under any circumstances have that sort of reaction to Joey, let alone a male. He was heterosexual and he'd been that way his whole life.

Eyes straying to Kisara who was looking extra beautiful that night had him reminding himself that he was in fact not gay. He had rather enjoyed playing with her breasts and teasing her mercilessly in the past, so he was obviously not gay.

And with that thought (despite not thinking of the fact that he shouldn't of had to remind himself that he was heterosexual), Seto felt a little bit better about the situation. That was… until Joey arrived in the dining room.

He walked behind Seto's chair in order to get to his own seat, sending cool air of Joey's clean fresh scent (he finally managed to take a shower, apparently) in through the brunette's nostrils which he absently inhaled. However, it wasn't his smell or even the way his hair was still a bit damp around his face. No, it was what he was wearing.

Seto just then realized, while Joey wore it, he'd left his coat in Joey's bathroom – despite the fact that he had been without it for a couple hours. Glancing down at himself, to make himself believe it, he held back a groan when he saw that he was only wearing a white button down. He must have been too distracted to really have noticed. But now he definitely noticed.

And what made it worse was that Joey was acting so casual about it. Like it was an everyday sort of thing that Joey wore Seto's clothing. He a small little content smile on his face and his warm brown eyes roamed over the platters of food hungrily. He obviously was unaware of everyone at the table's eyes on him. Seto's especially.

Blue eyes narrowing, Seto chanced a glance up at Kisara for her reaction and she was quite literally gawking at Joey like he was some sort of live Duel Monster. Well… if that was supposed to get her to leave, then it could just might work. Her pretty face then transformed into a green monster and glowered at the poor oblivious blond.

Seto stifled a smirk and looked back at Joey who was stuffing his face with chicken. Momentarily repulsed by the boy's constant hunger, Seto cleared his throat to alleviate the tense atmosphere in the room. "If you're going to wear my clothes, you could at least make sure to not make stains on them," he stated, hiding his true reaction under his normal snide threats.

Joey finally rose his head, his eyes wide with innocence that Seto didn't believe to be real. Not in a long shot. "Pwomise," Joey said over his mouthful of food before attempting to give him a reassuring grin, to which Seto scowled with disgust and looked away.

"Why is he wearing your clothes Seto?" Kisara asked, her voice notably wobbly while trying to control her obvious jealousy.

Seto merely looked up at her before shrugging, pretending to be quite bored with the subject. "He doesn't have a lot of clothing here for him to wear. I suppose I will have Rolland take Mr. Yugi here and Prince Wheeler shopping tomorrow."

Yugi and Joey exchanged smirks that went unnoticed by Kisara or Seto, but quickly composed themselves before they were caught.

The white haired girl seemed to not like the answer she was given and seemed to have completely forgotten her meal in front of her, as her steely blue eyes stared intently at Seto as if trying to force him into locking eyes with her. "So it's temporary," she stated, but it was not a question.

Seto quite simply ignored her stare and took a sip of his tea before answering, "Obviously."

Joey stifled a snicker that ended up sounding a lot like a snort, which he then proceeded to work off as a cough. Seto's eyes slid over to Joey curiously and the blond's face lit up with heat. That seemed to infuriate Kisara further, making Yugi who had been blessed to sit by her uneasy and he shifted his chair away from her slightly.

Mokuba just grabbed his cup of hot chocolate and hid his grin from behind it. Things were working out splendidly.

As Seto went back to eating his meal, the rest of the table began to do so as well. All was quiet for a very long moment until Joey accidently dropped his fork. "Oops," he muttered quietly to himself, before sliding out of his chair onto the floor.

"Wheeler! Get back up here!" Seto bellowed, outraged that a man of royalty would just so bluntly retrieve a fork that had fallen onto the floor. "Let someone else get it!"

"Don't worry – Ouch!" Joey tried to reassure before banging his head on the underside of the table. Mokuba snorted around a biscuit, making his brother snap his eyes over to him, which sobered Mokuba up quickly. "I… think – I… nope! Hang on… it's so dark under here, I can't see anything," was all they heard from their seats.

Seto tried to control the ridicule that threatened to leave his mouth at Joey's behavior. Roaming around on the floor in his coat trying to find a fork was just outrageous. And he thought that up until a hand grabbed his ankle, which he impeccably froze at. His heart even stilled in its beating, he swore. Thankfully he had full control over his face as he didn't want to attract attention to himself, especially with Kisara's tense eyes on him.

Then the hand began to move. Upwards.

It nearly sent him into a premature heart attack. Instinct was to kick him off and scold him for being so foolish. But he did no such thing. No, instead he sat there, feeling the warm hand on him move up his pant clothed leg towards his knee.

Immediately, his chant began again in his head. I'm not gay.

As he thought this, heat engulfed his cheeks and he tried to shift his head a little make his hair fall into his face to conceal it. Really, did Kisara have to stare at him as if he was going to explode at any moment? I might, an involuntary thought invaded his mind sending him into a fit of "I'm not gay's". As the hand continued to slide over his knee and then back down his leg, his heart began to beat again with more life than it had been before it had stopped. What the hell Wheeler?

Suddenly, the hand disappeared off of his leg and he found himself stunned that Joey had just abruptly stopped without so much as a climax. The blond popped back up into his seat, his hair messier than Seto had ever seen it and a blush high on his cheeks. The brown orbs didn't even glance at him and Seto found that annoying. So you can toy with me but you won't confront me afterwards? He thought with irritation.

Joey instead caught Yugi's eyes and gave him a flash of a grin. "Found it," he said proudly, holding his fork up in triumph.

It was needless to say Seto was stunned silent and Kisara was in a foul mood for the rest of the evening. Joey was confused and Mokuba was the happiest he'd been in days.

oO0Oo

Ryou ran a hand through his long white hair, wishing he'd brought a hair tie to hold it away from his face. It could get pretty sweaty in the barn, especially because it was autumn and the summer heat seemed to have lingered longer than it should have. It wasn't mandatory to stay in there while Princess Kisara was up in the palace with King Seto. No, Ryou just hated being around the other guards that were temporarily living with Pious' royal guard in the nice building of their own off to the side of the palace. It wasn't that they were necessarily terrible company, it was just he wanted to stay away from him.

Bakura, is what he had called himself. Despite the fact that Ryou had practically locked himself up in the barn without telling anyone where he had been going, Bakura had seemed to know exactly where he'd been. Ryou was perturbed by that. The man obviously had no life and instead had made his mission to stalk and harass him at any given moment.

At least I don't have to sleep around him, was all that made Ryou relieved. For some reason the man caused Ryou to feel uncomfortable and it had little to do with how big and muscular he was. Although it had partly do with it. He knew of his small stature, so it wasn't brain science that Ryou would feel intimidated by Bakura. Besides that however, Bakura had this aura around him that screamed coercion. His growl like voice, the look in his eyes when he looked at Ryou, and the fact that he just wouldn't leave him alone and took pleasure in making Ryou uncomfortable was enough to send the smaller boy wanting to return home as quick as possible.

Bakura made his heart beat too quickly and had his palms sweating before the heat even touched him. No one had ever made him feel that way.

It was terrifying.

Thankfully though, it was night and Bakura usually showed up during daylight hours. Ryou liked to think it was because he wasn't allowed out of his building past a certain time and so it gave the boy freedom to do what he wanted without worrying about Bakura pestering him. Like play with his hamster or spend time with the nice animals in the barn. However, that night, Ryou wasn't doing either.

Instead, he was lying in a pile of hay staring up at the sky light built on the ceiling of the barn. The sky was beautifully clear and he could see the stars. With a hand over his stomach, he absently named off the constellations. Orion, Sirius… Leo…

Crunch.

Ryou froze in fright at the sound, his head darting to the side as his eyes wondered over the barn in search for the cause. Seeing a horse shift in its stall had Ryou relaxing. Perhaps it was the horse.

Oh right, there's the big dipper, he mused but then was suddenly cut off by a shadow looming over him.

Ryou just about screamed at the sight of Bakura standing over him, an extensive wicked grin over his face. "Hello lovely," he stated and Ryou was up in a second, rushing towards a stall to get away from him. A dark chuckle from behind him followed by hasty footfalls had him realizing that he was being followed. What was that man doing here?

Slamming a stall shut, he locked it quickly and pressed himself up against the back wall, eyes wide and petrified. Bakura was tall though and he easily looked over the stall door to peer in at him. The obscure smirk on his face sent involuntary shivers down Ryou's spine.

"What d-do you want with m-me?" Ryou asked as he panicked and Bakura's smirk widened.

"I can't say hi to you then?" Bakura replied, offhandly looking disappointed and Ryou wondered if maybe he had actually hurt his feelings. The flash in his eyes told him different and Ryou narrowed his own chocolate ones.

"Not if you're just here to harass me!" Ryou shouted, surprised at his own angry retort. How could he go from being scared out of his wits by the man to being so incredibly angry at him that he just spouts offensive words at him? Ryou had never met someone to cause him to be so unstable before.

Bakura reached over the top of the stall door, unhitching it effortlessly and Ryou's heart jumped to his throat. "You're so sexy when you're angry," Bakura drawled as he opened the door and stepped inside.

Ryou blushed profusely at Bakura's choice of words and his fingertips painfully clutched to the wall as if it was a life source. "S-stay away from me!" Ryou pathetically warned and Bakura laughed while walking the few short steps towards him. "I m-mean it!"

The threat went dead on his lips and Ryou was suddenly aware of Bakura's close proximity to him. His lips were so close to his own and his violet eyes captivated his almost immediately. Another shudder ran over him and Bakura's lips parted into a smirk before he pressed himself flesh against Ryou's smaller body. Ryou had to lift his head quite far to keep eye contact but Bakura didn't seem to mind.

It took all of a second before he was hoisted up by those muscular arms and his lips were then underneath Bakura's. A white hot flash of heat striked through him at the violation and his reaction was unlike any other. Ryou's arms wrapped around Bakura's neck immediately, his thighs circling the larger man's waist, and a moan leaving his mouth. And in response, Bakura growled heatedly into the boy's mouth, his tongue snaking through the parting lips to entangle Ryou's with his own.

Neither of them had felt this passionate about anything before. They didn't even want to come up for air. One of Bakura's hands gripped Ryou's long hair to hold him to his mouth while he grinded himself up against his willing victim. Ryou's fingers untangled themselves to thread into Bakura's hair and the moaning and grunting didn't ever stop. Ryou could even feel the man's want against his own. It was so thrilling.

When it did, they broke apart because they had to not because they wanted to. Bakura opened his eyes first, looking down at the pale face of Ryou. The boy was panting and there was still a blush slightly on his cheeks. His lips were swollen from the kiss and his hands were still in Bakura's hair. The man hadn't seen anything more arousing in his whole life.

And because things were going so well for him, it would have been obvious to say that it would all come to an end.

"Ryou?" A woman's voice spoke into the barn and Ryou's eyes popped open immediately to lock onto Bakura's questioning ones.


	10. Make Up Your Mind if You're Liking What Ya See

Make Up Your Mind if You're Liking What Ya See

The female's voice continued to call out to Ryou and the larger man's suspicions were quickly returning, especially as Ryou regained control over himself and began struggling to make the man let him go.

Bakura released Ryou to drop onto his feet, the white haired boy scurrying away from him hastily to exit the stall as if what they had just done hadn't happened. Bakura gritted his teeth tightly at the disturbance, yet followed Ryou. Whoever the hell had barged in here better of had a good enough reason. He had been so close to making Ryou submit to him he had tasted it joyously. The reaction from Ryou had been stunning and had intensified Bakura's need for him. Bakura didn't fully understand it all, but he knew that he had to have this interesting, sexy boy.

Exiting the stall to enter the main part of the barn, he observed Ryou rush over – to who Bakura assumed was the interrupter – before catching sight of Princess Kisara herself as he made his appearance. Her crystal blue eyes trained from Ryou to Bakura immediately, an almost scared look etching itself onto her face before she composed herself quickly.

"What are you doing in here?" she asked him, a hint of threat in her voice which Bakura didn't appreciate it. She was, after all, a guest at the palace and despite their separate friendships with the King, Bakura would not feel remorse on showing her out of here. However, that would mean Ryou would be leaving as well and so that was the only reason to stop him. He wasn't quite finished with the boy yet.

Bakura crossed his arms over his chest as he gave her an obscure look. "I could ask the same, Princess," he stretched her title. "The last time I checked you weren't even close to being a farm animal so there would be no reason for you to be here."

Kisara's pretty face darkened at his words as her fists clenched at her sides. Bakura couldn't help but smirk at that. "I'm here to speak with my guard for your information," she bit off and grabbed Ryou by the arm, making the boy wince from the force.

Bakura narrowed his eyes dangerously and took a step towards her. "Guard? Really?" he asked, not believing a word she was saying. "This is who you surround yourself with to protect you?" He darted his eyes from Kisara to Ryou to gesture who he was talking about, causing the boy's face to light up from shame. "He's nothing but a mere child."

Something flashed in Kisara's eyes and her hold on Ryou visibly tightened, hiking up Bakura's barely controlled anger even more. What the hell was going on here?

"It's none of your business who I choose as my guards, however I might have to have a little talk with my dear Seto about who he chooses as his guards. Sneaking around in a barn and harassing your guest's guard? Pathetic really."

Bakura's stifled growl vibrated through him, his eyes narrowing into slits. Kisara backed away slightly as her eyes widened at Bakura, pulling Ryou with her as he attempted to resist exposing his obvious fear.

"Let go of him," Bakura yapped at her, his feet continuing to advance on them as tremors of rage spread over him. No one, hurt what he considered his. And Ryou was definitely his now. He didn't care if Ryou really was Kisara's guard, she wasn't allowed to touch him.

Kisara, despite obviously being intimidated by Bakura, tried to mask it and pulled Ryou closer to her as she stepped backwards towards the doors. She flashed a glare at the man as Ryou's eyes widened even more. "Why are you so worried about what I do with my guard?" she questioned, her voice higher than it normally was. Bakura took that as a sign that she was scared. Good.

"Because you're hurting him," Bakura simply stated before pouncing.

Kisara barely had time to widen her eyes before the large frame of Bakura landed on top of her, his elbow knocking into her face and causing her to release Ryou in order to grab at it in pain. Bakura smirked wildly as he grabbed Ryou around the waist, making him cry out in terror, and threw him over his shoulder. The small boy kicked his legs against Bakura's chest but the larger man only laughed as he got to his feet and began walking out of the barn.

"LET ME GO!" Ryou wailed as he continued to fight against Bakura's hold on him.

Bakura laughed again. "That wasn't what you were saying a few minutes ago in the stall, baby," he taunted and he didn't have to look at him to know that Ryou was blushing fiercely, for he faltered in his squirming.

It was then that Kisara decided to interrupt once more and Bakura wished he had his sword on him. "Let him go guard! He's not yours!" she shouted at him.

Bakura spun around on the grass, to give her a grin. "That's where you're wrong, your highness. He's more mine than he is your guard," he mocked. "Unless he's not really your guard," he added with a wicked quirk of his eyebrow in challenge.

Kisara's eyes flashed to Ryou for a split moment and Bakura wondered if she was going to continue to fight him on this. Better just give it up now honey, he thought maniacally.

"What are you going to do with him?" she asked him as her voice softened, her face falling in defeat and her hands clamping together in front of her face.

Bakura frowned at her, not understanding why she cared so much for a supposed guard that couldn't do anything for her. "What's it to you?" he asked, as he jutted out his jaw while his eyes narrowed in suspicion.

"B-because," Ryou answered instead into Bakura's ear, making the larger man freeze against his will, his violet eyes trained on Kisara's frightened face. "I'm her b-brother."

Bakura immediately dropped Ryou onto the ground in shock.

oO0Oo

The next morning, Seto's eyes popped open with paranoia as he woke. He could still feel Joey's warm dream hands all over his body, sending heat and blood through him making him shift in his bed uncomfortably. Swallowing hard he tried to distract his mind from the fact that he was incredibly hard at the moment, his eyes staring hard at the ceiling above him. It was just a dream, Seto. It doesn't mean anything, he tried to reason with himself.

Then why did he dream about it?

It had to be because of what had transpired the day before. Joey had suddenly found an interest in wearing his clothes and had thought it amusing to run his hand over his leg under the dinner table. None of it made any sense to him. The last time he had checked Joey absolutely hated him. And not to a: "oh you annoy me" kind of way, no. It was a: "I wish you'd die in your sleep" kind of way. And to a point, Seto had felt the same way about him. So why was all of this happening?

What bothered him the most, was how his body had reacted to what Joey had been doing to him. No one, not even Kisara, had made him absolutely paralyzed under their ministrations or just by the mere sight of them half naked like Joey had been in the bathroom. Just the thought of him like that, leaning up against the doorframe with a casual smile on his face had Seto's heart racing again.

"Ugh," he groaned, grabbing his hair uncharacteristically and rolling himself over onto his side. His fingers slid down his face while he narrowed his eyes towards his dresser as if it offended him. "I'm not gay," he reminded himself aloud.

Suddenly, a knock on his door made him halt in his frustrating denial. Just as quickly, the door swung open and Seto peered down the bed from his position to see his younger brother. He silently sighed with relief, before scolding himself inwardly for thinking the person were to be Joey to come pester him again.

"Still in bed, big brother?" Mokuba asked curiously, walking over to him and jumping onto the bed. Seto pushed himself up into a sitting position to see the grin on his younger brother's face. Seto didn't trust it.

"I… didn't sleep well," he answered honestly, running a hand through his hair to try to flatten it out which Mokuba beamed at.

"Why's that?"

Seto narrowed his eyes at his brother, dropping his hand into his lap. "Why are you in here?" he asked, refusing to answer Mokuba's prying question. It was like his younger brother knew why he hadn't slept well, and that disturbed him.

Mokuba shrugged nonchalantly, the smile on his face never wavering. "Rolland is taking Joey and Yugi out shopping and so I don't have anything to do."

Seto wanted to sigh with relief at the fact that Joey wouldn't be wearing his clothing anymore. That problem was solved. Nonetheless, a feeling of disappointment tried to intervene which he stubbornly pushed aside. "Were you expecting me to do something with you?"

Mokuba seemed to lighten up even more, if that was possible. His eyes were practically sparkling. Seto hadn't seen him this way in such a long time. It lifted his heart slightly at the sight of it. "We could play games like we used to! We haven't played together in like a bazillion years!"

Seto rolled his eyes at his brother's exaggeration and threw the covers off of himself to get out of the bed. Mokuba was practically bouncing on his bed behind him with anticipation.

"Come on please?" he pleaded as Seto went through his drawer to find something to wear.

"I don't have time for games, Mokuba," he stated simply and withdrew his dark blue sleep shirt over his head without looking at his brother. He just knew he'd fall victim to those puppy dog eyes that the young prince was overly well at.

"Oh Seto please?" the boy cried and Seto sighed as he unfastened the buttons of his once folded white button up shirt.

"Mokuba, I sa"—

"Hey Mokuba? We're 'bout to leave…" Seto's blood ran hot at as the voice trailed off, his blue eyes snapping to the doorway where Joey was standing with his mouth gaping open and his brown eyes wide while staring directly at Seto's bare chest.

Seto felt a blush raise onto his cheeks and he quickly averted his eyes to throw the shirt on. "Hasn't anyone taught you to knock Wheeler?" Seto asked bitterly, covering up his embarrassment. Why oh why must he torment me like this?

Apparently Joey had to collect his words before speaking because there was a slight pause before he responded. "I was looking for Mokuba actually." Seto was surprised to hear no malice in his words like he normally would after Seto ridiculed him, even though he shouldn't have been. Something had been off with Joey ever since he'd returned from Ghaffar.

And Seto wanted to know what. "Well you could have waited till he left my bedroom. Despite the fact that you seem to not care like the animal you are, you're not allowed in my bedroom," he tried to bait.

He chanced a glance at Joey while buttoning his shirt and was amused to see the blond's hands in fists at his side and his face red from either anger or embarrassment. Either one was satisfying to Seto at the moment. Joey caught Seto's gaze and the brunette smirked at him in challenge, raising more fire in the depths of those brown eyes.

"What did you want Joey?" Mokuba intervened before Joey could retort, standing up from the bed. The distraction worked as Joey looked over to the younger boy and softened his hardened exterior.

"I just wanted to know if you would like to come with us." Joey asked him with an easygoing smile, as if Seto's words hadn't truly affected him. And that pissed Seto off.

Seto glanced to his little brother, catching his gaze that had turned uncertain. "Well… I kind of wanted to hang out with Seto today. But he says he doesn't want to so okay," Mokuba responded before dropping his head with a sad frown, his eyebrows pulling together to draw in effect.

Joey's smile faltered and he glanced at Seto. "Your brother could come too," he suggested with a shrug. Mokuba's eyes lit up as he raised his head, before rushing over to Seto to grab onto his arm.

The brunette in question didn't appreciate being pulled into this. "Come on Seto? It'd be fun!" Mokuba went back to pleading, his eyes widening melodramatically.

"I"—Seto began, but was cut off by Joey, irritatingly enough.

"Come on Kaiba, I'm sure you don't have that many things going on today. You're brother wants ya to spend some time with him," Joey explained with that stupid smile. That stupid, casual, moronic, I'm the most innocent man on the planet, smile that Seto didn't buy for a moment's notice. He had worn it all day yesterday. "Plus," Joey added, grabbing Seto's attention once more as he narrowed his blue eyes at the blond's deceiving curved lips. "The public will see us together actin' like a perfect family. Two birds, one stone."

If Seto had been suspicious before, he was definitely now so. His eyebrows rose up with mock surprise. "And since when does Joey Wheeler want the public to see us together?" he questioned, letting his doubt run smoothly through his words.

Joey shrugged with another irritating smile. "Since now. It's for Mokuba's benefit, really," he explained before his eyes slid down Seto's figure slowly, causing more heat to rush through the brunette involuntarily. "Besides, don't you want to make sure I pick out appropriate clothing to wear? Wouldn't want me buyin' anything too lower class with your money, would ya?"

Joey's eyes suddenly snapped up to Seto's with a dare flashing through them and Seto's jaw tightened painfully. Oh so this was now a game? I'll show you game, Seto thought wickedly as he absently fell into Joey's trap. "No we wouldn't, Wheeler," Seto agreed casually, before turning to his younger brother seriously. "Fine, I'll go. But it's because of you."

Mokuba squealed in delight, throwing his arms around Seto's waist happily before letting him go to beam up at him. "Thanks big brother! You're the best!" he then spun around and ran for Joey, grabbing the blond's hand to pull him from the room. "Come on Joey!"

Seto eyed the blond as he was dragged out his bedroom. "I don't know what game you're wanting to play, Wheeler. But just know I do intend to win it," he muttered to himself, never realizing that it would cause him to fall deeper into his denial.

oO0Oo

Seto crossed his arms as he waited at the car for Joey, Mokuba, and Yugi to exit the palace, but was surprised to see Yami instead approach him.

"Don't tell me you were forced to come too?" Seto asked with a quirk of his dark eyebrow. Yami gave him a slight smirk, crossing his own arms over his chest as he came to a stop in front of him.

"Of course not. I volunteered to go. Couldn't leave you to your own devices, now could I?" he teased the King with a quirk of an eyebrow. Seto rolled his eyes.

"It shouldn't be me that you lack trust in," Seto stated simply and Yami chuckled.

"Oh? Are you saying you don't trust Prince Wheeler?"

Seto snorted. "That's exactly what I'm saying. Especially after…" he dropped his sentence out of realizing he didn't need to indulge his spiky haired guard on everything going on with him. He then adverted Yami's curious, penetrating gaze.

Finally, Rolland opened the doors to the palace as Mokuba ran past him towards Seto. The brunette was very thankful that the subject would have to be dropped. "We're ready!" the boy declared as he came to a stop in front of his brother, who strained a smile down at him for his enthusiasm. If the fact that Mokuba really just wanted to spend time with him was true, Seto would give him that. He could admit with a guilty conscience that he'd been more worried about everything else, instead of hanging out him. He'd have to make sure to set aside some time, so something like this wouldn't happen again.

Joey and Yugi walked down the steps after Rolland, whispering to each other discreetly. Seto's eyes narrowed at them silently. He was going to find out the underlying reasoning behind this if it was the last thing he did that day. As if on cue, Joey and Yugi both abruptly pulled away from each other as Joey gave Seto that smile. Seto tore his eyes from the warm brown ones, not wanting to get caught in them again, to see Yugi shyly blushing a bright red and his eyes down on the ground.

"What's wrong with you?" Seto questioned as Yami cleared his throat from beside him and Yugi glanced up at him before turning an even darker color of scarlet.

"Shall we go?" Yami's deep voice suddenly broke the awkward tension and they all filed into the large car giving each other weird looks.

oO0Oo

Joey emerged from a dressing room, feeling very uncomfortable in tight fitting black slacks and a long red coat. He absolutely refused to wear any other colors, as anything brighter – as per suggestion by Seto – made him feel out of place. However, the outfit he wore was apparently up to Seto's standards and he had only tried them on in order to get him to stop nagging at him over it.

"Well?" the blond asked the group sitting in the soft plush chairs in front of him, excluding Yugi was still in the dressing room trying on a different outfit. His honey colored eyes roamed their faces: Mokuba was grinning as he swung his feet back and forth, Yami had his legs crossed and his pointed red eyes were distractedly glancing over at Yugi's dressing room (which ticked at Joey's anger), and Seto was staring at him silently with an impassive expression on his face with his arms crossed over his chest.

"Okay so it seems like Mokuba's the only one enthusiastic about this one and since I'm not about to wear anything a child prefers ("Hey!"), I'm changin'," Joey muttered before spinning back around to enter the dressing room, closing the door behind him grumpily.

Joey knew he needed to work this to his advantage but he wasn't sure how. He'd tried on everything that Seto had suggested and had gotten absolutely nothing out of him. The bastard wouldn't even blink. No, he needed the same kind of reaction that he'd gotten from him back in the bathroom –

"That's it," he whispered to himself, his eyes lighting up along with his cheeks. Stop thinking about your insecurities and do this, Joey. "Uh, Kaiba?" he hesitantly called out, but didn't hear a reply. Joey's hands drew into fists as he gritted his teeth. "Can you please come help me? I… these pants won't come off because they're too tight," he explained loudly, before closing his eyes tight, expecting an insult thrown his way. This better work, he threatened himself.

"Sounds like a personal problem," Seto's voice answered snidely and Joey could tell by the far away sound of his voice that he hadn't even stood up from his chair.

"Asshole," he muttered under his breath with narrowed eyes. Taking a deep breath to control himself, Joey tried again. "I've tried, I don't want to rip them. Unless you want to pay for somethin' that's broken?" There ya go Joey, activate the money card.

"Go on Seto," Mokuba's innocent perceived suggestive voice sounded, making Joey smirk. This boy was amazing at getting his older brother to do things. "He needs your help."

"Then why don't you go help him," Seto argued and Joey could hear how uncomfortable he was with this situation. Good.

"Because I'm a kid, big brother. I shouldn't be looking at older boys in their underwear," Mokuba replied matter-of-factly to which Seto sighed dramatically.

"Yami, go help him," Seto barked at his guard and Joey rolled his eyes, leaning up against the wall of the dressing room. As if on cue, Yugi's small voice wrung out from the room beside him.

"Y-yami? Can you zip this up for m-me?"

Joey threw his fist into his mouth to stop himself from busting out into laughter, his pride in his best friend swelling with appreciation. He couldn't even bring himself to be angry at the fact that Yami would be inside a dressing room alone with Yugi at this point.

"C-coming," Yami embarrassingly stuttered and Joey heard his footsteps approach before Yugi's dressing room door opened then shut.

Joey waited for Seto's response, but he had apparently gone mute all of a sudden. He really needed to get over himself. Yugi and Joey both were doing things that they didn't feel comfortable with, Seto could too.

Finally, as if Mokuba had given him those puppy dog eyes (which he probably had), Seto sighed with exasperation and Joey heard his footsteps, sending the blond's heart racing with anticipation. Joey shrugged his coat off and threw it behind him carelessly, before unlocking the door.

Seto opened the door reluctantly and averted the blond's eyes as he closed the door behind him. Joey suddenly realized how small the dressing room was with Seto's tall frame inside. He then began to feel nervous and his hands began sweating. "Hi," Joey stupidly said, making Seto give him an inquisitive look, making his cheeks burn. So. Awkward.

"Well? Let's get this over with," Seto stated gruffly, grabbing Joey unexpectedly by the arms and pushing him against the back wall.

Joey's eyes widened into large circles with a gasp, and then got wider as Seto dropped to his knees in front of him. Oh s-shit, Joey inwardly stuttered. He was positive that his cheeks were as red as the coat under his feet at this point, especially when Seto's hands grabbed the sides of the pants. His stomach lurched at the touch unwillingly and his eyes stared down with disbelief at the stoic faced man tugging down his slacks. Of course he showed no emotion whatsoever, until he hesitantly looked upwards and his mouth curved upwards into a wicked smirk.

Joey's heart jumped into his throat at the look as he didn't know how to react to any of this. The plan had completely backfired and he didn't understand why or how. Heat traveled up from his legs to his groin as Seto's hands moved treacherously over his thighs, making Joey shift uneasily underneath him.

"You think you can toy with me and get it away with it, Wheeler?" Seto muttered low in his throat, catching the blond off guard by his words and how he spoke them. Was he referring to the night before at dinner? Joey wasn't sure but somehow he quickly felt like he had been caught.

He couldn't let Seto think that though. Not with everything on the line like this.

Gritting his teeth harshly, trying to stop his body from reacting the way it was to Seto's expert hands steadily getting closer to the formation that was producing in the slightly pulled down slacks, Joey attempted to snap out of it. "I don't know what you're talkin' about," he attempted to retort innocently.

Seto's blue eyes flashed silver at his denial and Joey shuddered uncontrollably as a hand brushed against him by accident. The brunette before him lips curled into a sneer before he grabbed Joey's pants and shoved them down his legs swiftly before releasing him and standing up straight, his face mere inches from Joey's as their eyes captivated one another's.

"I wouldn't be so sure of that," Seto murmured dangerously, his warm breath caressing the blond's face and neck as Joey apprehended how unsettled he was of this voice than the hostile ones he'd heard before.

Before Joey could process any of it, Seto was out of the dressing room and Joey was against the wall with the pants around his ankles wearing nothing but his black pair of boxers as he panted breathlessly in disbelief. What. Just. Happened.

oO0Oo

Meanwhile in Yugi's dressing room, Yugi was also pressed against the wall but had done so of his own doing to get away from the burning crimson eyes of Yami. He'd asked him to come in there to keep Seto from backing out of helping Joey, in order for their plans to succeed, but he'd acted rashly and hadn't thought of what it would mean when Yami was in there alone with him. His heart beat was wildly pounding against his bare chest as his face was as red as a tomato, his eyes wider than they'd ever been.

"You needed my help?" Yami questioned him in a low voice, sending spontaneous shivers to run over Yugi's skin.

"I… no – I just," Yugi cursed himself inside his mind at the lack of ability to get words out correctly in front of the guard. He wasn't even sure why he was reacting so violently towards him.

"Wanted King Seto to help Prince Wheeler?" Yami helped, comprehending the scenario thankfully so Yugi didn't need to use words to answer, so instead he just hastily nodded.

His purple eyes darted to his shirt at Yami's feet, wishing he'd thought to put it on before the guard had come inside. Now he was half naked in front of a man who was so obviously attracted to him. Yugi hadn't even thought about his sexual orientation before but had never ruled it out that he'd be attracted to men. He'd been attracted to pretty girls before but nothing had ever come of it because of how shy he was. That apparently had carried over to how he dealt with handsome males as well. Especially tan, red eyed males.

Yami followed Yugi's trail of eyes, before smirking. "You're awfully small to be Joey's age," Yami commented simply, his eyes gradually sliding down the boy's slim bare chest that didn't even have hairs upon it.

Yugi's eyes narrowed a little at Yami, not appreciating what he'd said. Of course he knew he was small to be eighteen. His family had all been as small as he was, so genetically he was too. He'd been insecure about it for years, especially when it came to being around nice-looking girls who preferred muscular taller men like Joey or Tristan. He'd even thought he had accepted himself more now that he was older, however when Yami had mentioned it, it had thrown him backwards and retracting.

Suddenly, his face was redder from irritation than it was from embarrassment. "So?" he couldn't help but snap, before immediately regretting it when Yami's eyes flashed to his. A look of surprise washed over Yami's pointed features before he took a step towards Yugi, making the smaller boy press even closer to the wall.

"I was just pointing out a curious detail, is all Yugi. There's no need to be defensive about it," Yami explained in a softer voice and Yugi stared at him silently, not knowing how to take this sudden turn of events. What had he been expecting? Yami to eat him or something?

"I — oh," Yugi relented, his shoulders slumping a little when he realized he'd been a bit rude to the guard. His eyes lowered timidly. "I thought you were making fun of me."

"I'd hardly make fun of something I find appealing."

Yugi's head snapped up to meet Yami's eyes, but lowered a little to see a slight blush on the guard's cheeks. A blush. Suddenly, Yugi felt a bit foolish and yet he didn't know how to respond as his mouth went slack and his eyes rose again to meet the curious red of Yami.

After a moment of silence, Yami cleared his throat. "I… think that I should go on back out," he stated and Yugi blinked owlishly before remembering where he was and gave a nod.

Yami smiled at the boy before turning the knob. "By the way Yugi, the dark blue slacks look very nice on you," he replied, flashing a smirk over his shoulder before closing the door behind him.

Yugi immediately lit back up and looked down at the pants he was wearing. He was definitely settling on them then.

oO0Oo

After returning home a couple hours later, Rolland and Yami held two large bags to set away in the boys from Ghaffar's rooms. Mokuba, Seto, Joey, and Yugi entered the palace to find Kisara sitting on the bottom stair with her head in her hands. Seto frowned to himself before approaching her, while the other three exchanged looks between themselves. Whatever was wrong with her wouldn't be good for their plans.

"Lunch will be in just a moment," Rolland stated as he slipped past them all to follow Yami up the staircase and Joey couldn't even bring himself to acknowledge his stomach growl rebelliously as his eyes held firm to the white haired girl and the brunette.

"Kisara? Are you all right?" Joey's face screwed up into a mask of distaste at the softness Seto spoke with.

The three in the middle of the parlor room watched on as Kisara lifted her head to meet Seto's eyes before sniffing a little. "Oh Seto… I'm just so anxious," she said, sounding like she'd just got done sobbing her heart out as her hands grabbed Seto's. Joey gritted his teeth when Seto didn't pull away.

"Why do you feel anxious?" he asked instead. Kisara's eyes then slid to meet Joey's before she hiccupped dramatically, returning her gaze to Seto's.

"C-can we speak in private please?" her soft voice carried over to the three and Seto nodded before helping her to stand. He turned slightly to acknowledge them, his face showing no emotion at all – as usual and pissing Joey off again. However the blond attempted to keep himself composed. It would do no one good if he lost his cool all of a sudden.

"You all go on ahead and eat without me," Seto stated before turning and leading Kisara up the stairs, to which Joey assumed would be his bedroom. When they were out of ear shot, Joey flew off the handle.

"What the fuck?!" he shouted, not even caring that a small child was beside him. He then began pacing as he grabbed at his hair maddeningly. "How does she have such a hold on him? I thought we were accomplishing something by doing this? But it doesn't even seem to be working as well as I thought it had been!" He then went on to curse incoherently under his breath.

Mokuba lowered his eyes with disappointment and Yugi placed a comforting hand on the boy. "I know it doesn't look good, but I don't think we should give up just yet," he told both Mokuba and Joey seriously. "She might not be acting this time guys, something might be upsetting her. We don't know for sure."

Joey threw his hands up with vexation before kicking one of the many marble statues in the parlor room, wishing it was either Kisara or Seto's head. After what had happened in the dressing room, and the heated (and suspicious) glances that he'd received from the brunette while they shopped around, Joey had been positive that he'd be kicking out Kisara by tomorrow night. Now, however, that hope was lost.

Pain shot up his leg from the kick and he growled out, before slamming himself up against the wall and sliding down it to throw his arms over his bent knees, his head lowering with his hair covering his angry red face.

Yugi and Mokuba approached their blond friend, both looking sympathetic. Yugi tried again. "Look Joey, I know it would be easy to give up but you can't, okay?"

Mokuba took a deep breath and nodded. "Yugi's right, Joey. We can't give up now."

Joey seemed like he was ignoring them but in fact he was letting their words sink in in silence while he tried to control his temper.

"In fact, I think we should kick it up a notch," Yugi replied suggestively and that evidently caught Joey's full attention as his head snapped up to look at his spiky haired friend. Mokuba looked at Yugi curiously. A small blush spread over Yugi's cheeks but he continued anyways. "Well, what I was thinking was: Joey has been doing things without Kisara in the room. Now that we know how Seto reacts to Joey's advances, we can have Joey do things in front of Kisara. Maybe it will make her realize that Seto isn't as interested in her as she seems to think."

Mokuba blinked before a mischievous smile spread over his small round face as Joey stared at his friend thoughtfully, hope washing back over him. "You're so totally right Yugi!" Mokuba gushed, patting the boy on his back with admiration. "Then that's what we'll – I mean, Joey has to do. Go for the kill Joey!"

Yugi gave Mokuba a small smile before meeting Joey's eyes again. "What do you say?" he asked warily when Joey didn't say anything.

Joey then nodded after a moment's pause. "All right, I do my best," Joey relented before returning the smile the two in front of him gave him.

oO0Oo

"What are you saying Kisara?" Seto asked her seriously from his seat on his bed, his blue eyes staring at her as if trying to penetrate her mind. Kisara looked down at the ground helplessly. "I didn't even know you had a brother."

Kisara's pale shoulders collapsed miserably. "I wasn't allowed to tell anyone about him, Seto. My father made me swear on the throne when I was younger. Trust me, if I had been able to, I would have told you first. Let alone, agree to you meeting him." She sighed and ran a hand through her hair before raising her eyes to his uncertainly as his face was blank. "I'm sure you're wondering why he was made to kept a secret."

Seto didn't feel the need to answer her since she already knew what he was thinking and so she sighed again at his silence. "Ryou, which is his name, was conceived without my father knowing. My mother had an affair behind his back with the excuse that he wasn't ever around to give her what she needed. She was caught by my father one night, foolishly too. She'd snuck the man into their bed and my father was enraged. He put the man in prison for some off the wall reason and just about threw my mother in there too, but then we found out she was pregnant. My father, too proud to let the public know he had been neglecting his wife, refused to make it known. So my mother was sent to live on the other side of the palace and give birth to Ryou… that was why she died, Seto. She died in childbirth, there was no way to save her," her voice caught over a lump of emotion and Seto continued to stare at her patiently until she was finished explaining.

"I-I told you that she died because she was sick with some weird illness, because that was what my father made me tell you and everyone really. Ryou was raised by a secret maid in the palace and was never once let to show his face. I often went to see him, since he was my brother, and we knew each other as siblings. I explained to him what had happened and I knew that it upset him, but there was nothing I could do. And then when he got older, my father made him become a guard – because he was not of true royal blood, his own blood. I watched out for him though, knowing he wasn't fit to be a true guard and assigned him to be my own personal guard to make sure nothing could harm him. So when I came here, I brought him with me.

And then your stupid guard suddenly became interested in him and got suspicious. He made Ryou scared and Ryou t-told him the truth to make him stop," Kisara concluded before crying again. Seto let his eyes drift away from her, remembering what Bakura had said before in the sitting room. He'd mentioned that Ryou had been very small in stature and a helpless excuse as a guard. Bakura had been suspicious and had been for good reason.

"Bakura won't say anything if I ask him not to," Seto defended his friend. "I trust him with my life and I would also trust him with your brothers, especially because I understand how he feels about Ryou."

Kisara lifted her head to look at Seto in stunned belief. "How he… feels? It's obvious that he doesn't feel anything towards my brother!" she bit off and Seto's eyes sharply met hers, not appreciating her tone of voice with him which she kindly softened to continue. "I mean, he made Ryou terrified. Ryou told me he's been stalking him since we got here with some weird interest to humiliate him. Ryou's even sleeping in your barn because of him! He's bullying my brother. Ryou's been through enough and he doesn't need this."

Seto rolled his eyes at Kisara, making her narrow her eyes. "Why aren't you taking this seriously?" she demanded and the brunette snorted.

"Let me break this to you gently, Kisara. Bakura isn't harassing him to make Ryou scared of him. In fact, it's completely the opposite. Bakura's 'weird interest' is the fact that he's interested in Ryou," Seto retorted and then smirked at the horrified look Kisara responded with.

"Well it's obvious Ryou doesn't return those feelings!" Kisara defended her brother with fierce blue eyes and Seto's eyebrows raised up.

"And how would you know? Have you asked him?" Seto questioned casually and with Kisara's hestitance to reply gave him his answer. "Okay. Perhaps you should then, whatever. I really don't care. Just know this: I'll inform Bakura to keep this new piece of information to himself for both your sake and Ryou's."

Kisara looked like she wanted to argue but ultimately decided against it and nodded. "Thank you Seto. You're doing my whole family a favor."

"Yes, well, you'll be doing me a favor by coming with me to lunch so my stomach doesn't eat itself," Seto stated as he stood up to which Kisara giggled at, before grabbing his arm as he led her from his bedroom to go down to the dining room.

Upon entering the dining room, Seto didn't pick up on the atmosphere too quickly. However, he did catch the full out glare that Joey gave Kisara as she released Seto's arm to seat herself down at the table. A small pleased smirk lifted his lips and he sat down pleasantly to eat lunch. None of them had eaten breakfast and so they were all starving.

And it was that hunger that distracted him from seeing the bigger picture. That is, until Joey took his hand that was resting next to his plate. Seto paused mid-chew, his eyes lifting to stare at his hand that was suddenly engulfed with warm skin before sliding up to Joey's face that was infuriatingly nonchalant. Warm little tingles spread up over Seto's arm that was connected to the hand under the blond's, making his breathing speed up just a little and words completely disappear.

He had no witty remark to make. No snide comment. Nothing. The only thing he could focus on was the fact that Joey had his hand on his. And just as suddenly, the dressing room occurrence flooded back to him, making his whole body heat under the touch. Seto honestly had no explanation for what had happened in there. The challenge that had been in Joey's eyes had compelled him to be victorious over it. However, it hadn't left him unaffected. In fact, he had been just as stimulated as Joey had seemed to be.

A light clearing of a throat caught Seto's attention momentarily and his eyes darted upwards to see Kisara frowning darkly down at her plate with unease and annoyance. It was then that he realized just what Joey was doing. He was attempting to make Kisara jealous. With this new revelation, Seto knew what he must do. Get revenge. That had seemed to make him stop all intentions the last time.

So, with that in mind, Seto interlaced the boy's fingers with his own and he felt Joey stiffen from the reciprocation before hesitating to relax. Not expecting that Joey? Interesting.

"So Mokuba, ready to go back to school tomorrow?" Seto finally broke the silence, as if nothing was going on between he and Joey.

Mokuba looked up from staring at the entwined hands to give Seto a wide eyed look from being startled. "I uh, yeah. Can't wait," Mokuba replied wobbly with a small upturn of his lips.

Joey then ran his thumb over Seto's wrist, causing the brunette to become distracted from the conversation for a second. His breath hitched in his chest and he willed himself to not look in Joey or Kisara's direction. He wouldn't be able to handle the situation if he did so.

"Are you sure about that?" He attempted to give Mokuba a stern pointed look, thanking himself for being able to speak clearly as Joey continued to caress him with his thumb.

Mokuba's eyes darted to their hands again, annoying Seto slightly, before he gave a small nod. "Uh hunh."

Seto then decided to turn the tables, growing tired of Joey having the upper hand. His foot slowly made its way over to Joey's and slid upwards over the boy's leg. A small barely audible gasp from beside him had him smirking faintly to himself while keeping the conversation flowing with his younger brother, his blue eyes never leaving the uncomfortable stormy gray.

"Interesting, Mokuba. I'm quite sure you don't like school at all," he replied with a quirk of his eyebrow and Mokuba blushed under his gaze.

The moment of victory didn't last long, as apparently Joey and himself were dueling silently at the table, and the blond moved his leg that was being violated by Seto in order to spread his legs, causing Seto's foot to brush the inside of Joey's thigh all of a sudden. Heat engulfed Seto immediately and a small blush formed on his cheeks that he shifted his hair with a small shake of his head to hide.

"I-I know. But I'm getting a new prospective on it," Mokuba stuttered before giving his brother an over enthusiastic grin but despite Seto's eyes being trained on Mokuba, he wasn't paying the least bit of attention. No, his focus was more on the fact that his foot was in between Joey's spread legs.

Swallowing down a lump in his dry mouth, Seto attempted to take Joey off guard by moving his foot over the blond's thigh suggestively. However, it quickly was backfired as Joey released Seto's hand to plunge it underneath the table to grab the brunette's foot before it could reach it's prize.

At that, Seto finally looked over at Joey who had his own blush on his cheeks and his eyes were downcast as if trying to concentrate on his own breathing. Daringly so, he glanced over at Kisara who now was staring at them with a steel like glare that even made Seto uncomfortable. This had gotten out of hand, he realized and he removed his foot from Joey but was shocked when Joey didn't release it so he could. Their eyes locked together and it honestly felt like they were the only ones in the room at that moment, the conversation with Mokuba completely forgotten. Joey's hand ran up underneath Seto's pant leg, caressing his calf while his eyes told him things he most likely never hear from the blond's mouth. But that didn't matter, as he was positive his mouth could do a lot of other things. It took everything Seto had to stop himself from jumping over the table to pounce on him.

Wait a second, what the hell's the matter with me? I'm not gay.

"Enough!" Seto unexpectedly blurted out and everyone at the table jumped at his outburst. Joey instantly let go of his leg and Seto sat it down while simultaneously standing from his seat, glaring down at Joey with everything he had. The brown eyes stared back up at him with heat still in the depths of them and it unsettled Seto the way it made him feel. "E-enough," he repeated more quietly, obviously speaking with Joey only. The warmth disappeared then, replaced by cold anger. That was more like it.

"Seto? Are you okay?" Mokuba's hesitant and worried voice broke Seto's determination to get through to Joey and he blinked, looking over at his brother as if suddenly realizing he'd been there the whole time.

"I'm fine, I just… need some air," he said lamely without even thinking before exiting the dining room.

oO0Oo

"What the hell did you do to him?" Kisara pointedly accused Joey with venom in her voice and eyes. By this point Joey was fuming from Seto's rejection and he stood up from his chair to glower down at the girl.

"What did I do to him? What are you even still doing here!" he yelled across the table and Kisara stood up as a flash of silver crossed her blue eyes.

"Yes what did you do to him?! It was obvious you made him angry! And I could say the same about you, Wheeler! You hate Seto, so why are you still here?" Kisara retorted while her cheeks blushed over as Yugi fearfully moved away from her for the second time.

"I'm engaged to him!" Joey answered, enraged at her impertinence. "That's more than what you can say."

Kisara's hands slammed onto the table furiously. "Oh don't act like that's even a good enough excuse," she said snidely, "I know as much as anyone here that you don't want to be engaged to him. You'd rather run back home to your stupid little village than marry Seto and have more power than you could ever imagine!"

At the mention of his kingdom, Joey lost it and he launched himself over the table to strangle Kisara, sending dishes and silverware to the ground in his wake.


	11. Could It Be That Easy?

Chapter 11: Could It Be That Easy?

Ryou nervously stared down at his fingers as they twiddled with the hem of his dark blue cotton tee shirt. He could feel those penetrating eyes on him, burning into his skin, attempting to read his mind. Or at least that's what it felt like. He didn't look up though. He refused. He knew the moment he made eye contact it would be the end for him. His old life would be finished and he'd begin a new one.

He could remember vividly the way Bakura's hot mouth invaded his own, the way Bakura's hips pressed into his as it sent his heart pounding erratically. Even now, just thinking about it, Ryou's breathing became labored slightly. That feeling. The feeling that he'd never felt before with anyone was now imprinted into his brain forever.

Ryou had lived a very sheltered life, to the point that his identity was a secret to everyone. To say that he had romance in his life at any point, would be a lie. Nonetheless, he'd hoped that one day he'd meet someone that would love him for who he actually was. Meeting Bakura and sharing what was the most passionate experience of his life, made him wonder if that was something that could lead to his dream. He wasn't sure because he had never imagined someone like Bakura would take notice of him the way that he had.

Bakura shifted in his seat on the stairs outside the palace. Ryou knew that he should have run away from Bakura then. And in all honesty, he had tried. However the guard was amazingly good at finding him and Ryou had given up. He'd have to confront this no matter how much he wanted to.

"Why do you put up with it?" was Bakura's cut into the silence that had been surrounding them for quite some time. Ryou even started a bit at the sound of his gruff voice, letting the involuntary shudder roll down his back before he spoke.

"Put up with what?" he asked timidly, still not making eye contact. It'd be too difficult for him to speak eye to eye. At least this way he'd be able to speak clearly.

"You know what," Bakura snorted, causing Ryou's cheeks to redden a little. "How can you just be okay with being a secret to everyone? Doesn't that bother you?"

Ryou swallowed hard, the misery he'd locked away a long time ago trying to resurface within him. Of course it bothered him. To live each day knowing that you were some mistake, that his mother died while giving birth to him, and that he wasn't able to portray who he really was of course upset him. More than he let on most days. Not even Kisara knew how terrible he felt about it. He knew that his sister had more things to worry about then him, as he also knew she worried enough about him as it was.

Apparently he was silent longer than he'd noticed and before he knew it, Bakura was kneeling in front of him on the stairs, his large hands grabbing onto Ryou's fidgety ones. It was only then, because he was taken off guard, Ryou looked up into Bakura's violet eyes. He didn't recognize the emotion within them, but it made him feel slightly on edge. He even blushed.

"Ryou," Bakura muttered and Ryou tried not to pull away from him. "You" –

"You're different from others," Ryou cut in before he could stop himself, making Bakura still and stare questioningly into Ryou's eyes. "Y-you thinking about how I feel about it. No one else has asked me how I feel."

Bakura frowned deeply in front of him but his thumbs lightly caressed the backs of Ryou's hands. "And how do you feel?"

"Wanted," Ryou whispered, not even answering the question properly. Wanted was how he felt at that very moment with Bakura.

Something lit up in Bakura's eyes that Ryou had caught but didn't have time to think too much on because the man before him leaned in, taking his breath away. Bakura stopped mere inches from Ryou's lips, causing the smaller boy to tremble slightly in anticipation. Their eyes flickered over each other, before settling on each other's lips as both of their breaths ticked the other's face.

"I want you," Bakura murmured over Ryou's lips, but before he could press them properly against them, the door of the palace slammed open – thoroughly breaking the tender moment that they seemed to be having and they leaned away from each other immediately.

"Come on Ryou, we're leaving," Kisara's desperate and wobbly voice said as she ran down the stairwell, not even bothering to wipe at her cheeks that were tearstained.

The fact that his sister was sobbing made him stand up. "What happened?" he asked in concern and Kisara paused on the way down to the sidewalk and turned around to look up at him, her watery eyes glancing at Bakura.

"We're obviously unwelcome here because of that low life blond brat in there, so tell your boyfriend goodbye and let's go," Kisara snapped, causing Ryou to wince and Bakura to tense beside him.

"I… okay," Ryou murmured with reddened cheeks, embarrassed by the fact that Kisara had called Bakura his boyrfriend, and followed after her.

He was quickly stopped by a grab of his wrist, spinning him around to come face to face with the guard. Bakura's eyes were intense. "You're not leaving," Bakura practically growled and Ryou had to hold himself together.

"I-I have to, I'm s-sorry," Ryou stuttered shamefully as he attempted to get out of the man's grasp.

"Unhand him Bakura!" a demanding voice came from the palace, Ryou recognizing it as King Seto's. Ryou looked back at Bakura worriedly, who seemed like he didn't want to do as he was commanded to do.

Slowly and reluctantly, Bakura released Ryou and the smaller of the two quickly ran after his sister who was already at her car that he assumed she called for prior. Disappointment ran through Ryou at the loss, his eyes glancing backwards over his shoulder once before getting into the car to see Bakura still on the steps where he'd left him staring after him as if he still wanted to go and steal him back. The one person in the world that really wanted him, was now unable to. And Ryou wouldn't be able to do anything about it.

"There has to be something done about Prince Wheeler," Kisara said to him privately, sending Ryou on edge at the dangerous voice his sister was using. "I can't let Seto go through with this marriage. It's not right, unnatural and completely stupid!"

"W-what do you plan to do then?" Ryou asked, not even sure that he truly wanted to know. He'd seen his sister be very scary when she wanted to be.

Kisara crossed his arms over her chest angrily and stared hard out the window as they drove away. "I have some connections, Ryou. Prince Wheeler will be out of my way for good."

oO0Oo

Joey stomped all the way into his bedroom, slamming the door in Yugi's concerned face and throwing himself down onto his bed to cradle his swollen cheek. Stupid bitch didn't have to use a fucking glass bowl on my face! he screamed into his head, which made it pound as if he'd done it aloud.

Despite the pain, the confusion of Seto's reaction, and his own newly found desires for the King, Joey was relieved to know Kisara was finally gone. If he had known that all he had to do was get into a fight with her, he would have done so a long time ago. It wouldn't have been a problem.

After he'd jumped across the table, intending to strangle her with her own hair, Kisara had jumped out of the way sending him crashing into the chair she had been sitting in prior. When he had reached his feet, he had ran after her, grabbing her by the hair making her scream bloody murder. He assumed now that the scream is what brought Seto back into the dining room. Joey had been seeing red by that point and hadn't even cared enough to pay attention to it. He did have the sense to not hit her, as she was still a woman and he did have morals. He was just going to pull her hair a bit, tell her to fuck off and leave Seto and his country alone, but instead she had grabbed the bowl and swung it up to connect into the side of his face.

Seto had then intervened. As Joey was moaning in pain, his hand clutched his cheek, Seto had grabbed the bowl from Kisara and sent her out the door with a few choice words. Apparently Kisara had overstayed her welcome and he could deal with his unruly fiance without her help. If it hadn't been the fact that he had kicked her out, Joey would have called offense to being called unruly. But at that point, he really could have cared less what Seto had to say to him as long as that bitch was gone.

Joey groaned, hearing Yugi's knocks on his door. "Yugi stop! Your tiny fists shouldn't be making such loud noises!" he moaned, rolling onto his side and closing his eyes to wallow in pain and self pity.

He had been injured by a girl. How humiliating. He hoped Tristan never found out.

Surprisingly enough, Yugi did stop knocking but just when Joey felt like he could fall asleep, his door open and in walked Seto. Joey felt his heart start to race and he quickly sat up to defend himself in need be. But Seto wasn't glaring at him... with too much malice. Sure his eyebrows were furrowed low over his narrowed eyes and his lips were thin, but he didn't look to be too angry.

That was a sorta good sign, Joey supposed.

"What do ya want richboy? Can't ya let a man lick his wounds in private? Or do ya have to sabotage that too?" he couldn't help but drawl; he was in too much pain to give two shits about the plan he'd been working out for the past two days. Kisara was gone. It was over.

Seto didn't dignify it with an answer, but instead continued to walk over to the bed and took a seat next to the blond. "You need to clean yourself up properly. Laying in bed when you could have a concussion isn't a good way to do it," Seto stated in a low strained voice as if he was forcing himself to say it.

Joey narrowed his eyes as far as they could go without completely killing his headache. "Go away."

Seto reached for his cheek but Joey pulled away immediately, almost falling off the other side of the bed in the process. Thankfully he caught himself and gave Seto another glower for good measure.

Apparently that was the last of Seto's patience. "Get your stubborn ass over here so I can look at your face before I make you," he growled and Joey crossed his arms over his chest defiantly at the tone - not appreciating it. They stared at each other with fire in both of their eyes, before Joey felt too tired and pained to continue.

Joey let himself fall back to the bed, scooting reluctantly over to Seto. Immediately, the brunette's attitude changed and he again reached up to take Joey's cheek into his hand. Joey's eyes closed of their own accord. Seto's fingers were soft, gentle and almost caressing as he looked over the swollen cheek, eye, and eyebrow. It sent involuntary goose bumps to rise on the blond's arms and neck. Trying not to show a reaction to the touch, Joey became restless when Seto didn't pull away after a moment. Joey felt the fingers move along his cheek very softly, then travel over his jaw.

When the fingers reached his neck, Joey's eyes popped open and locked gazes with blue ones. Immediately his heart lurched towards Seto and he searched into the icy color for something he wasn't sure of. It seemed like Seto was doing the same thing because his fingers stilled on Joey's neck and he stared just as intently back at him.

Momentarily, Joey's mouth ran dry and he licked his lips then swallowed, feeling Seto's fingers move slightly with the movement of his adam's apple.

Seto finally broke the connection as he glanced down to his hand before gently pulling it away. Joey felt the loss immediately but his cheeks warmed up with the realization of what just had happened between them. It was something that he'd never felt before with the brunette... or anyone for that matter. That confused him. He'd thought he'd been in love with Duke for the longest time but what he'd felt just now with the man in front of him, was something completely foreign.

Seto cleared his throat, a blush high on his own cheeks, breaking Joey out of his musings. "You're bruising pretty quickly so I don't think it's too bad. I'll have Rolland bring you up some ice and pain reliever..." his voice trailed off as he looked back into Joey's eyes for a moment, creating the connection again before quickly adverting his gaze to break it.

He was fighting it. And Joey understood that. He didn't know what to make of it either.

He sure as hell didn't know where the sentiment came from that then followed out of his own mouth, "Thanks."

Seto swallowed before nodding silently as he stood from the bed. Joey watched him without a word even in his head, assuming he was going to be leaving him to his lonesome once before, but Seto paused.

"I apologize for Kisara's behavior. She is a good person deep down and that's what keeps me from throwing her out of my life forever," Seto stated quietly, throwing Joey off guard from the admission - despite gravely disagreeing with Seto for saying Kisara was in any way a good person. "My priorities have changed recently, however and she needs to respect that."

Joey didn't know what to say to him and Seto glanced back at him swiftly with a thoughtful expression before exiting the room.

When the door closed, Joey let out a breath that he didn't know he'd been holding that whole time.

Things were different now.

oO0Oo

Seto slowly made his way through his palace, seeing Rolland at the foot of the stairs in the foyer with a grave face. The brunette attempted to make himself feel like himself as he straightened and rose his chin, pausing in front of the man. "Prince Wheeler needs his face attended to. He doesn't seem to have a concussion but he needs pain reliever and ice."

Seto felt the old man's eyes observe him for a moment, but before he could snap at him in defense, he responded. "Right away your majesty." And then he walked away to the kitchens.

Seto let a breath exhale through his nose solemnly. He just wanted to crawl in bed and wake up tomorrow with today gone from his memory. He wished he could say that Kisara's actions had been surprising, but they weren't. He knew first hand what Joey and Kisara were like and he should have known to never leave them together alone. Especially after realizing just what Joey was up to. His head pounded with the thought of Joey trying to make the princess jealous. He really didn't know what to think about it. He knew Prince Wheeler was homosexual. He'd always known that. It was the reason he'd made the decision to marry him. It had been the perfect opportunity to take Ghaffar into his control without waiting for Joey's younger sister Serenity to mature enough to marry. Of course, it would have been more ideal for Seto. But now...

No! You're not gay. Don't let Joey's temptations corrupt your mind.

Seto sighed again and made himself move towards the sitting room, intending to sit down in his comfy chair and hope that he could relax a little before he went to bed and attempt to forget. The reminder of the dream he'd had made his skin tingle and he gritted his teeth. Perhaps he should have thrown himself out of the palace. Only then he'd be able to be rid of all of this.

"I told you Seto!" Mokuba cried to his brother as soon as he stepped inside, throwing his arms around his middle. So much for relaxing. "She's a monster! What she did to Joey... it's unforgivable! Don't let her come back Seto! Please!"

Seto rolled his eyes at his younger brother, untangling himself from the tight embrace. "I'm sure Joey initiated whatever was going on in the dining room Mokuba. Don't think for a moment I believe Joey was completely innocent and Kisara is the only one to blame."

"But"-

Seto threw a hand up to stop his brother from interrupting. "Mokuba. I'm not justifying Kisara's role in any of it. However, I'm sure you're aware of the fact that Joey seemed to be egging her on," he stated, leaving it up to Mokuba to fill in the blanks.

Mokuba then looked down with a very guilty face, making Seto narrow his eyes with suspicion. Was his younger brother in on it? Did he really not like Kisara that much that he forged a plan with Joey in order to be rid of her? For some reason... Seto wasn't mad about it. Actually, he was kind of proud of his brother. Seemed like he was a Kaiba after all.

"Mokuba," he said as he sat down in his usual chair, gesturing to the one next to him for his brother to take. And he did. "Explain to me why you hate Kisara."

Mokuba's cheeks reddened and he looked away uncomfortably. "No."

Seto's eyebrows shot up, not expecting the answer. "No? Why not? It's obvious you hate her with a passion, but I never even thought you two had much interaction over the years. Father was always throwing us together and leaving you out of it. So please, Mokuba. Tell me."

The little boy's lips trembled and his hair fell into his face as he looked down at the ground. "You'll be mad at me."

Seto frowned, not understanding. "Why would I be mad at you?"

"Okay fine!" Mokuba suddenly cried out. "I'll tell you."

And he did. Every. Single. Detail.

Seto took back what he said to Joey about Kisara being a good person. No one touched his brother. If he saw her again, he'd make sure to end her.


	12. Ain't Gotta Say That You Need Me

Chapter 12: Ain't Gotta Say That You Need Me

The following days after Kisara and her gaurds had left were quiet ones. Joey's face was healing well and Mokuba and Seto had made up from their disagreement, promptly going back to the way they were before the princess had made an appearance. Too bad the same couldn't be said for the engaged couple.

Seto was avoiding Joey at all costs. It seemed like the brunette knew exactly where Joey would be, as he made himself scarce throughout the day until dinner where he wouldn't even look up at the blond, let alone make conversation. He'd just speak with Mokuba or Yugi. And it was missing Joey off. At first, Joey had felt just as awkward being around him. The fact that they had sexually flirted with one another was an elephant in the room. Joey got that. But couldn't they just get over it already?

Joey had even tried to initiate arguments with the king but to no avail. Seto would dismiss himself from the conversation and focus on something completely different. Joey had tried to speak to Mokuba about it, as the little boy seemed very intuitive about his brother. Apparently Seto evaded from talking about Joey all together with anyone. Was he really that repulsed by the fact that they had dallied with one another? Just the thought was enough to shape an angry blush on the blond's cheeks.

Bastard.

Joey crossed his arms over his chest, staring daggers into the side of the brunette's face from his seat in the sitting room. Yugi sat next to him, eyes lowered to the ground in deep thought as Seto spoke to Yami about something… Joey wasn't listening. His murderous thoughts about his fiancé were too loud.

It wasn't until Yugi's small elbow nudged him in the stomach to bring his attention back to the present. Joey blinked, sending the glare on his face away quickly, and turned to look at his friend.

"Did you hear that?" Yugi asked mysteriously in a quiet whisper, leaning towards Joey slightly to ensure no one else heard him.

Joey shook his head sheepishly and Yugi rolled his eyes.

"Seto's birthday," Yugi explained vaguely, his eyes sparkling with an unspoken plan and Joey frowned in confusion.

"What about it?" Not that he knew it was Seto's birthday coming up. He'd been his enemy for so long that he hadn't cared to know the date. He supposed he should know of it now for future reference if he was to be married to him.

Yugi huffed indignantly, a little frustrated that Joey wasn't catching on. "Come on Joey, its perfect icebreaker after everything that has happened!" his whisper heightening a little with excitement.

Joey's eyebrow twitched upwards. "And why do you think I need an icebreaker? Everything's fine and dandy," he snorted, throwing his hands out for effect.

Yugi eyed him silently for a moment, before hitting him in the arm, taking Joey completely off guard. Eyes widening into saucers, Joey stared at his no-violence friend incredulously. "Wha"-

"I'm your best friend Joey, I know when you're upset and if your eyes could kill, King Seto would be dead five days ago. You're mad that he's avoiding you," Yugi perceptively stated, purple eyes narrowing at the blond accusingly.

A blush immediately swept over Joey's face, not liking the fact that his friend could read him so well. "I don't know what you're talkin' 'bout Yug'," he decided to play dumb but his honey colored eyes glanced over at Seto momentarily on accident. "I hate him. He hates me. This whole thing'll work out if we keep away from each other."

Now he just needed to convince himself of that.

Yugi wasn't convinced though. "That line might fool yourself, but it doesn't fool me," was all that he could say before Seto and Yami appeared in front of them. A bright uncontrollable blush took over Yugi's face at the intense look Yami sent his way.

"I'm going to be leaving," Seto announced and the boys looked up at him in surprise.

"Where?" Joey quickly asked, before mentally kicking himself. You're not supposed to care, dumbass.

Seto eyed him for a moment, making Joey uncomfortable, before answering smoothly. "I have business to attend to in Kwan. I'll be back by this weekend."

Joey couldn't help but take it personally and a small voice in the back of head was telling him Seto was leaving to get away from him. "Whatever," Joey suddenly snapped, before standing and shoving Seto out of the way so he could exit the room.

Seto glared after him and Yugi stood to follow, but Yami grabbed his arm. "Leave him be, little one," the baritone voice of the guard said to Yugi quietly, sending shivers down his spine and a fresh blush to appear on his face.

"I-I have to go t-talk to him. He's my f-friend," Yugi stuttered, inwardly cursing himself for acting so puny when all he wanted to do was act as confident as he.

"You're a good friend Yugi, but I must keep you for a moment," Yami stated and the smaller boy looked up at him from under long eyelashes curiously.

"As touching as all this is, I need to fetch Rolland to pack my bag," Seto sarcastically said, before exiting the room himself, obviously rattled from Joey's behavior seconds prior.

"I need your help," Yami said softly to Yugi once they were alone.

"What would you need my help with?" Yugi asked and Yami chuckled, running his fingers over Yugi's arm gently. It sent goose bumps over his skin. Good riddance this man's touch was powerful.

"Do you know how to care for a hamster?"

oO0Oo

"Why do you have to go?" Mokuba whined to his older brother as Seto pulled his long white coat onto himself, idly watching Rolland bring his suitcase down the large staircase of the foyer.

"Because, little brother, King Pegasus and I have business to discuss," Seto explained, patting Mokuba's head once to stop him from jumping up and down with a temper tantrum he could feel coming on.

Mokuba crossed his arms, giving Seto a very angry pouted look. Seto rolled his eyes as Rolland approached them.

"You're all packed, your majesty. I shall bring your belongings out to the car," Rolland declared before moving past them out the door.

"Thank you Rolland," Seto said gratefully before turning his attention back to his brother who was still sulking. "Look, I'll be back by Saturday and we can hang out or something, okay?"

"This weekend is your birthday, Seto," Mokuba reminded him and Seto sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose tiredly.

"I know, Mokuba. I just really don't care about it okay?"

Mokuba rose his eyebrows. "Why not? We always care about our birthdays."

"No, you care about your birthday. I made sure of it while you grew up. I already have the throne and everything I ever wanted, I don't need to care about birthdays."

Mokuba huffed, not liking Seto's explanation. "That doesn't mean we can't celebrate it."

"No, Mokuba," Seto suddenly got serious and his little brother looked up at him with big eyes. "We're not celebrating. I will hang out with you all weekend long okay? Just… no parties or anything like that, got me?"

Seto eyed his little brother carefully, seeing a small spark light up in his gray eyes. "Mokuba…" he started to warn but Mokuba sighed in defeat.

"Fine. But you're staying up all night with me Saturday to play games with me!"

Seto smiled, bending down to give him a tight hug before he had to leave. "Okay Mokuba," he said softly before disentangling himself from his brother's koala bear embrace. "Your homework will be done by Saturday then."

"Sure thing big brother!"

As Seto left the palace, Mokuba skipped away to make up plans for Seto's twenty-first birthday party on Saturday.

oO0Oo

"I don't know what's wrong with it," Bakura said lamely, his normally dangerous voice sounding a bit desperate as he bent over and rested his chin on the table staring into the hamster cage at the small gray hamster that was biting the cage bars incessantly. "I can't sleep because it won't fucking stop."

Yugi stared at the sight blankly, not understanding why someone like Bakura would even have a hamster in his possession. "Is he yours?" he asked timidly and Bakura let out a breath before standing up.

"No," he said grumpily, throwing his arms up across his chest, refusing to look Yugi in the eyes. "He's Ryou's… he accidentally left him here…" his voice trailed off as if he suddenly thought of something and Yami took a step towards Yugi, placing a hand on his small shoulder.

"Do you think you could help us? Bakura doesn't want the poor thing to die…"

Yugi eyed the irritable white haired man in front of him before glancing at the hamster. "Sure," he nodded and stepped around Bakura to look at the hamster.

Pursing his lips as he looked around the cage, he noticed one glaringly obvious detail. "He's hungry," Yugi said simply.

A loud growl erupted from behind him and Yugi jumped, running into the table in fright. Yami threw a cautious hand up as if it would calm Bakura.

"Of course he's fucking hungry! It's been five fucking days! What a fucking idiot! Where the fuck's the fucking food?" Bakura began looking around the barn and Yugi swore he'd never heard the "f" word so many times before. It was quite amazing.

"Is this it?" Yami asked, picking up a small green bag that had a photo of a hamster on it.

Bakura snatched it from him before dashing to the cage to refill the food bowl. All three males crowded around the cage and stared at the hamster with interest and hope. The small little thing stopped biting the bars and twitched it's nose in the direction of the food before slowly inching its way over to the bowl and sniffing the food. Bakura held his breath, and finally the hamster ate.

"Thank you Yugi!" Yami said happily, wrapping an arm around the boy's shoulders. Yugi blushed crimson.

"I didn't really do anything… I – he was just hungry," Yugi stammered, looking up into Yami's crimson eyes that stared back at him with adoration.

"Get out!" Bakura barked suddenly, making Yugi jump practically into Yami's arms.

"Come along little one," Yami said, taking Yugi's hand into his to lead him out of the barn. "Bakura's love sick and needs to throw his own pity party."

"Fuck you," Bakura spat as Yami chuckled, exiting the barn with Yugi.

Once outside in the afternoon sun, Yami decided to go for a small walk with Yugi to admire the fresh air and the different colored leaves on the ground.

"Thank you again for your help. Bakura might not show it, but he does appreciate it," Yami said with a fond smile. "That hamster is very important to him right now."

Yugi nodded vaguely before frowning with confusion when he realized what Yami had said. "Why is the hamster important to him?"

Yami cleared his throat, realizing he had said too much. But it was a glaringly obvious answer and Yugi would know soon enough. "Bakura is interested in Ryou, one of Kisara's guards. I'm not sure if you ever met him, but he was here when she was and Ryou seemed to have an interest in Bakura as well, surprisingly enough."

Yugi pulled his bottom lip in between his teeth for a moment as he thought what Yami had just said over. So Bakura and this guard Ryou were gay too? Seemed like everyone around him was… it was beginning to feel more comfortable to be attracted to the same gender than the opposite one. Which wasn't necessarily a bad thing since Yami seemed to be Yugi's focus at the moment. Even as they walked side by side around the grounds, Yugi could smell Yami's cologne and it did wonders to his body.

"Why is it surprising?" Yugi suddenly asked, trying to keep himself from thinking too much about how good Yami smelled.

Yami chuckled. "You've met Bakura," he said as if it explained everything. And maybe it did. Bakura wasn't necessarily the nicest man around.

"He sure does cuss a lot," Yugi mumbled, making Yami burst into laughter. The sound of it made Yugi's cheeks light up.

"Yeah, he does," Yami said with a nod before glancing at the smaller boy. "I bet you've never cussed in your life."

Yugi knew he was teasing but as he was insecure, it felt like a jeer to his masculinity. "I-I have too!"

Yami's eyebrows shot up in surprise, but it was obvious he didn't believe him. For good reason. Yugi had never cussed ever. Not really. "And what exactly have you said then?"

Yugi's eyebrows pulled together in frustration at himself and at Yami's reluctance to let it go. "I…" his voice trailed off as he tried to find within himself to say a cuss word aloud. "I said… "Screw off" to this big muscular boy at school once," Yugi tried to swell up his chest to sound confident like Yami, but then remembered what had happened afterwards. "But he did punch me afterwards."

Yami suddenly halted in his steps and Yugi was stunned to be pulled into Yami's arms, crimson eyes meeting purple. A violet blush made its way up Yugi's neck to his cheeks. "He punched you?" Yami asked in a very deadly serious voice.

"Y-yes, but then Joey punched him and made him go to the nurse," Yugi spluttered, eyes wide as he realized just how close Yami's face was to his. His eyes immediately lowered to the thin pink lips of Yami. Oh goodness…

Yami's eyes flitted over Yugi's face for confirmation over something foreign to Yugi at that moment before breaking the moment with loud laughter. He let Yugi go to bend over and grab his knees, as he laughed very hard. Yugi stared at him in stunned silence, utterly confused at Yami and still breathless from the close proximity.

"What?" Yugi finally rasped, hands running over his hot cheeks.

"S-sorry!" Yami couldn't help but say through his laughter as he stood back up properly to grin over at confused little Yugi. "You told some bully to "screw off"? Holy shit, little one," he laughed again and Yugi's blush went darker from embarrassment before getting irritated at Yami.

Finally Yami caught Yugi's narrowed eyed scowl and realized he needed to stop laughing. "Sorry," he said weakly, his voice a little too high for Yugi's liking. He stepped over to Yugi and took his hand, pulling it up to his lips. Yugi's anger melted away at the feeling of Yami's lips on the skin of his hand. "You're brave, Yugi. I admire that," Yami said huskily.

Yugi swallowed harshly, tingles spreading up his arm from his hand still very close to Yami's mouth. Crimson eyes that seemed too heated to be any other color met stunned purple. Suddenly, the energy changed around them and it drew Yami closer to the smaller boy.

He moved slowly, not taking any second for granted. Yugi stood frozen to the spot, not knowing what to do or say or if it was even appropriate to do or say anything at that point. All he could comprehend was that Yami was getting closer to him, the heat from his tan muscular body was radiating towards him, and Yugi's heart racing within his chest.

Never before had Yugi been so attracted to someone in his whole life.

"Yugi," Yami's low voice murmured, his fingers raising up to caress Yugi's reddened cheek while his other hand released the small hand to slide up a smooth arm. The sound of his voice and his touch sent a shudder down Yugi's spine as the scent of Yami infiltrated his senses.

Yami was getting even closer now, Yugi realized as their mouths were only a couple inches apart. Yami's breathing was sending puffs of air into Yugi's face and the anticipation was killing him. It was at that point that Yugi's mind went completely blank and Yami's mouth ascended onto his.

Yugi's eyes closed immediately at the soft brush of warm lips upon his, sparks flying beneath his eyelids as he had his first kiss. Yami's kiss was hesitant, cautious, like him but warm and confident as he pressed his lips a bit harder against Yugi's.

Yami could feel Yugi's inexeperience and surprise, but didn't think on it too long because he couldn't help but get lost in the feeling of his lips pressed against his. Arms encircling Yugi's waist, he pulled him closer and angled Yugi's face up to kiss him with better access. This was amazing.

"Yugi?!"

Yugi broke apart from Yami quickly, much to the older man's dismay and looked towards the palace where Joey was waving to him from the balcony, trying to get his attention apparently.

A bright furious blush waved over Yugi when he realized that Joey must have seen the kiss he'd shared with Yami.

"Oh no," he moaned and Yami tightened his grip on his waist.

"What?" Yami asked him quietly, his voice a bit throaty from the kiss. Yugi refused to get entranced by it.

He blinked and shook his head, before pushing Yami away by the chest. "I-I have to go. S-sorry," he muttered lamely and then ran off before Yami could stop him.

"Yugi!" he called after him but the small boy didn't even look back.

"Sucks doesn't it?" a snide voice spoke from a small bit a ways from him and he turned to see Bakura leaning up against a tree with his arms crossed, a grim smile on his face.

Yami gritted his teeth and tore his eyes off of his friend to look up at the palace, Yugi now inside. "Yeah… it does," he mumbled.

oO0Oo

"What were you doing with him?" Joey demanded as soon as Yugi stepped inside the palace, his arms crossed over his chest and his eyes narrowed down into brown slits at his small embarrassed spiky haired friend.

"N-nothing, Joey!" Yugi squeaked, obviously mortified from being witnessed kissing Yami by the blond.

"Didn't look like nothin'! You were kissin' him! I thought I told you to stay away from that tanned red-eyed guy! He's nothin' but bad news."

Yugi chest puffed up with indignation. Joey was being unreasonable. He hadn't even had a proper conversation with Yami. And Yami was anything but bad news. He was very nice and... attractive to say the least. He was one of a very small group of people that Yugi knew that didn't pick on him and actually liked him for him. Well of what he knew of him, at least. They still hadn't truly gotten to know each other.

"He's nice to me Joey! H-he is nice," Yugi defended his new friend, face still red, but eyes narrowed.

Joey's own face got red with anger. "You don't even know him Yug!"

That made Yugi even angrier. "Neither do you Joey! You only think you do and for once, stop protecting me and let me make friends!"

"I think he has a bit more than friendship on his mind," Joey stated simply and Yugi threw his hands up with exasperation.

"Maybe I don't want friendship! What if I want to have a relationship with someone? Stop Joey!" he yelled. "Just... stop," Yugi finished breathlessly, already getting tired from fighting with Joey. He didn't want to argue. He hated confrontation and after what happened with his other friends, he didn't want to lose Joey either.

Joey seemed to be speechless, but in a very dignified manner. He still looked like he wanted to argue his point, but he didn't. Yugi appreciated that.

"Let's just go play some games or something, okay?" Yugi changed the subject with hope and Joey hissed, his eyes tearing from his friend.

"Fine," he finally said.

Yugi inwardly sighed a breath of relief. This is why he and Joey were good friends. Despite their arguments, neither of them wanted to lose the other so they made sure it didn't happen.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! Please review! It truly helps!


End file.
